Kremlin says Trump-Putin meeting necessary, no plans confirmed

The Kremlin has acknowledged that a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely considered necessary, particularly as Trump seeks to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Putin has no scheduled trips to the Middle East in mid-May, despite speculation about a possible meeting during Trump’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Both sides emphasized that any such summit would require extensive preparation and ongoing expert-level engagement between Moscow and Washington, but there are currently no concrete plans or specifics. Trump and Putin have communicated several times by phone this year amid efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict. The last meeting between Putin and a sitting U.S. president was with Joe Biden in Geneva in 2021.