US Secretary of State Trump said on what conditions he would meet with Putin

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The possibility of a meeting between US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin "depends in large part on the possibility of achieving success in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, broadcast on Platform X on Thursday, February 20.

Conditions for Trump's meeting with Putin

Rubio said that he discussed Trump's meeting with Putin during talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh on February 18. However, Lavrov and Russian officials were told "there will be no meeting until we know what it will be about," Rubio added.

“Normally, these meetings are not held until there is some outcome or some progress,” the US foreign policy chief explained. However, if the US and Russia can succeed in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and Trump’s meeting with Putin cements the deal, “everyone should applaud President Trump as a peacemaker,” he said.

Russia’s seriousness needs to be made clear

While Trump said after a phone call with Putin that he could meet with him in person by the end of February, Rubio said he “doesn’t know” when that might happen.

At the same time, he said, the US president wants to know how serious Russia is about ending the war in Ukraine. The only way to check that is to ask Moscow directly, Rubio added. The only agreement at the talks in Saudi Arabia was that they would continue to talk about peace, he explained. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”