Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a trilateral meeting next month with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the war in Ukraine and seek an end to the conflict on terms favorable to Moscow, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Putin raised the proposal during an Oct. 9 phone call with Trump, according to a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter, the newspaper said.
The call also resulted in an agreement for the US to purchase Russian diesel fuel and facilitate its sale on the global market, the report said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions were underway regarding a possible meeting.
"There is no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda, although all three parties acknowledge the hypothetical possibility of such a meeting taking place," he told the Journal.
A senior US official said Trump had not agreed to the proposed summit but could be open to the idea, given his desire to fulfill his campaign pledge to end the war.
According to people familiar with the discussions, the Kremlin has proposed holding the trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for Nov. 18–19 in Shenzhen, China.
Russian officials raised the proposal with Beijing through diplomatic channels, and China indicated that it would not oppose the idea if Trump agreed, according to people familiar with recent discussions between Moscow and Beijing.
The former Russian intelligence officer said Putin had previously proposed holding a trilateral summit with Trump and Xi on several occasions.
Trump recently reached a deal with Putin to buy Russian diesel fuel in an effort to lower fuel prices, which have weighed on the US economy and hurt Republican prospects ahead of midterm elections.
On Friday, Trump also suspended the implementation of sanctions against Russia under a bipartisan bill he signed last month.
The former intelligence officer said Putin had ambitious, though potentially unrealistic, goals for the trilateral format, envisioning it as a second Yalta summit that would divide the world into spheres of influence.
Some people familiar with the discussions said Chinese officials were concerned that such a geopolitical sideshow could overshadow Beijing's plans to use the APEC summit to highlight China's role in the region.
Xi is seeking to balance continued support for Putin with the need to maintain China's economic ties with Europe, the people said.
