Russia Offers To Sell Rare Earth Minerals To US: Report

In what could be seen as a sign of reaffirmation to US President Donald Trump that there’s profit to be made in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has offered to sell the country’s rare earth minerals to American companies, including those in Russian-occupied Ukraine, The Guardian reported.

“We are ready to work with our partners, including the Americans,” Putin reportedly said on Monday evening, while suggesting that the country could resume selling aluminium to the US.

“We undoubtedly have, I want to emphasise, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine,” The Guardian quoted the Russian president as saying.

The development, which saw Putin chairing an unannounced meeting on rare earth metals, came within a few hours of Trump signaling that “major economic development transactions with Russia” were imminent.

Notably, Russia has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth metals, the report said, citing the US Geological Survey data.

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