Latest news with #KremlinSenate
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kremlin declines to predict when Putin and Trump may meet face-to-face
FILE PHOTO: The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower in Moscow, Russia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File photo ST PETERSBURG, Russia - The Kremlin said on Friday it could not predict whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump this year given how turbulent the world had become. The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Putin is open to an in-person meeting with Trump, but that the process of setting one up is complex and first requires lengthy preparation at expert level. Trump and Putin have held five phone calls this year, most recently on Saturday, according to public statements from the two sides. When asked about the probability of the two leaders meeting face-to-face sometime this year, Peskov told reporters: "I wouldn't venture to make such predictions." "We live in such a turbulent world that it is impossible to make forecasts even for next week," he said, in an apparent reference to the Israel-Iran conflict. After returning to the White House in January, Trump initially took a softer stance towards Moscow, but in recent months he has grown increasingly frustrated that his push to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine has thus far yielded scant results. Russia said on Monday that the United States had cancelled the next round of bilateral talks on removing "irritants" between the two countries. Peskov said on Friday that Moscow was in constant dialogue with the U.S. about a possible peace settlement for Ukraine, but that a separate track of talks on trying to repair bilateral ties was complex because so many problems had accumulated over the years. He said that U.S. diplomats wanted to link the two sets of negotiations, but that Moscow believed removing "irritants' in bilateral ties would help efforts to make progress on Ukraine. "We hope that in the foreseeable future we will reach agreement on new dates (for a new round of talks on bilateral issues)," said Peskov. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kremlin says it sees that Israel does not want mediation efforts with Iran amid 'galloping escalation'
FILE PHOTO: The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower in Moscow, Russia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/ File Photo Kremlin says it sees that Israel does not want mediation efforts with Iran amid 'galloping escalation' MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it saw that Israel did not want mediation efforts over its conflict with Iran, now in its fifth day amid what Moscow said was "galloping escalation". Israel launched its air war with a surprise attack last week that has killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. Iran has responded with a barrage of strikes on Israeli cities. In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on both sides to exercise "maximum restraint". "The situation is continuing to escalate rapidly. The level of unpredictability is absolute," he said. Peskov said that Russia's offer to mediate between the warring sides if necessary still stood, but that it saw Israel was for now not interested in seeking a peaceful solution. Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran in January, but the pact does not include a mutual defence clause. It also has longstanding ties with Israel, though these have been strained by the war in Ukraine and Israel's bombing of Gaza. Peskov said the Russian embassy in Tehran was coordinating with Russian citizens and providing them with opportunities to evacuate the country via neighbouring Azerbaijan. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Kremlin says it has been ready to hand over bodies of Ukrainian war dead for 'several days'
FILE PHOTO: The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower in Moscow, Russia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File photo MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has been ready to start handing over the corpses of Ukraine's war dead for several days with refrigerated trucks containing the first bodies parked near the border, but Kyiv is still discussing the details, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The two sides agreed to repatriate the bodies of soldiers killed in the conflict during talks in Istanbul on June 2, which also resulted in an agreement to exchange prisoners of war, a process which got under way on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Moscow of "trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game" around the issue of the exchanges. Russia has said it is ready to hand over the bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and receive any bodies of Russian soldiers which Kyiv is able to return. But Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said on Saturday that the Russian side had shown up at the agreed exchange point with the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian dead soldiers only to find nobody from Ukraine to take them. Ukrainian officials responsible for the exchanges did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Asked about the issue on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia remained ready to return the bodies and was in talks with Kyiv on the subject, but did not yet know exactly how many bodies of Russian soldiers Ukraine was ready to hand over. "There is no final understanding. Contact is being made, numbers are being compared. As soon as there is a final understanding, then we hope this exchange will take place," said Peskov. "There is one indisputable fact here, which is that we have already been ready on the border for several days with those trailers that were mentioned to make the transfer to the Ukrainian side. This is a fact that everyone sees and knows." Russian state media has broadcast images of long white refrigerated trucks containing the bodies which are sealed in individual white bags and are parked up near the border. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Straits Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kremlin says it is still talking to Ukraine about exchanging bodies of dead soldiers
FILE PHOTO: The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower in Moscow, Russia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File photo Kremlin says it is still talking to Ukraine about exchanging bodies of dead soldiers MOSCOW - Russia is still ready to return the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war and is in talks with Kyiv on the subject, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. It said some of the bodies were still waiting inside refrigerated trucks for a handover. Russia has previously said that the trucks, initially carrying over 1,000 bodies, have been parked near an exchange point since at least Saturday for Ukraine to collect and has complained that Kyiv has not yet done so. Such an exchange was agreed during a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2. The Kremlin said it did not yet know exactly how many bodies of Russian soldiers Ukraine was ready to hand over. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kremlin calls Ukrainian response to Putin's ceasefire offer ambiguous, calls for clarity
FILE PHOTO: The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower, in central Moscow, Russia, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Saturday it wanted a definitive response from Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer of a three-day ceasefire next week, criticising the reaction so far as ambiguous and historically wrong. Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two. The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run on May 8, May 9 - when Putin will host international leaders on Moscow's Red Square, including Chinese President Xi Jinping - and May 10. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to rule out such a brief ceasefire earlier on Saturday, saying he was only ready to sign up to a ceasefire that would last at least 30 days, an idea Putin has said needs a lot of work before it could become a reality. Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine, given the continued war with Russia, could not guarantee the safety of any foreign dignitaries who came to Moscow for the May 9 parade. Russia's Foreign Ministry said his comments amounted to a threat, while Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said nobody could guarantee that the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv would survive to see May 10 if Ukraine attacked Moscow during the May 9 celebrations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov convened a special conference call after Zelenskiy's comments. He told reporters that Putin's three-day offer had been a test to assess Kyiv's readiness to search for a peaceful settlement to end the war. "The reaction of the Ukrainian authorities to Russia's initiative to introduce a ceasefire is a test of Ukraine's readiness for peace. And we will, of course, await not ambiguous but definitive statements and, most importantly, actions aimed at de-escalating the conflict over the public holidays," Peskov said. He accused the Ukrainian authorities of espousing "neo-Nazism," an allegation Kyiv has repeatedly rejected as false, and of not considering the victory over Nazi Germany to be important enough to mark properly. Peskov also commented on media reports that Ukrainian soldiers will take part in World War Two commemorations in Britain, calling the move "sacrilege". REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
