The Kremlin on Sunday pushed back on expectations for immediate progress in peace negotiations over the war in Ukraine, following pointed comments from U.S. President Donald Trump urging faster movement in talks with Russia, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reportedly said discussions with Trump’s administration were “going very well,” but warned that it was “impossible to expect any instant results,” citing what he described as serious damage to U.S.-Russia relations under President Joe Biden.
“But, of course, it is impossible to expect any instant results,” Peskov told Russian state television, adding that repairing relations “requires more work, requires more time.”
Trump, who has pledged to end what he calls the “bloodbath” of the nearly three-year war, reacted to the ongoing talks on Saturday and said they “may be going OK” but added, “There’s a point at which you just have to either put up or shut up.”
The remarks came after Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held over four hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg.
According to Peskov, contacts between Moscow and Washington are now happening at multiple levels, including via the foreign ministry, intelligence services, and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for investment relations.
Asked whether a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin was imminent, Peskov reportedly said both sides were “walking along this path together very patiently”, while suggesting that restoring ties between the two nations would take “serious and painstaking work.”
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