The Kremlin said on Monday, after US President Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin, that the United States and Russia were working on ideas around a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday he was very angry after the Russian president last week criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership, the television network reported.
Trump said he would be forced to impose secondary tariffs of 25 per cent to 50 per cent on buyers of Russian oil if he felt Moscow was blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine. China and India are big buyers of Russian oil.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was continuing to work with Washington and that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
A call between Trump and Putin could be set up at short notice if necessary, though no call was scheduled for this week, he said.
“We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all, to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous administration,” Peskov said.