The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, spoke with China leaders, India and three ex-Soviet states on Friday on a large number of calls to inform them about their contacts with the United States about the war in Ukraine.
Putin met the United States president, Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday, after which Kremlin said a summit between Putin and Trump could take place as soon as next week. No place, date or agenda have been announced.
Trump, pressing for the end of the 3.5 -year war, had established a deadline that expires on Friday so that Russia accepts peace or in front of new sanctions from Moscow and countries that buy Russian exports. China and India are the largest buyers of Russian oil.
The president of China, Xi Jinping, told Putin in a phone call that China pleases to see Russia and the United States maintain contact and improve ties to advance a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, the Chinese state station. CCTV saying.
China is a great sponsor of Russia in its confrontation with the West, as well as the largest commercial partner of Russia. Putin will visit China in September so that the events mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The Kremlin said Putin also discussed his conversations with Witkoff with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump announced this week an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods to penalize New Delhi for their purchases of Russian oil.
“I had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments in Ukraine,” Modi said in an X publication.
On Thursday, Putin spoke with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who expressed “full support for South Africa’s peace initiatives that will end war and contribute to lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, met on Thursday in Moscow and Putin said the EAU were a possible place for the Russian-United States Summit.
Russia, China, India, South Africa and the EAU are members of the BRICS group of countries that Moscow considers a counterweight for the political and economic domain of the United States.
Putin on Friday also discussed the result of Witkoff’s visit on calls with his ally Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, and with the leaders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
