Trump and Putin will hold a summit in the coming days, with preparations already underway

Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are preparing to meet for the first time since Trump returned to the White House this January, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.

The announcement comes as Washington and Moscow edge toward what Trump calls a possible “breakthrough” to end the war in Ukraine.

Ushakov said the agreement for a summit was made “at the suggestion of the American side,” and that both governments had started “concrete preparations.” A venue has already been chosen, but it will be revealed later.

This news dropped just one day after Trump’s envoy, real estate executive Steve Witkoff, sat down with Putin. The meeting wasn’t symbolic. It was aimed at trying to break the deadlock in Ukraine.

Trump, who has alternated between praising and blasting Putin in public, has warned that new U.S. sanctions will hit Russia and any country buying its exports if peace talks fail.

UAE visit pushes Russia talks deeper

While that summit prep was quietly in motion, United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan flew into Moscow for a separate meeting with Putin.

That visit, his second to Russia in under a year, added more weight to speculation that the UAE could host the upcoming Putin-Trump meeting. Emirati state news agency WAM said bin Zayed’s trip focused on strengthening their “strategic partnership” and expanding cooperation in energy, trade, investments, and regional politics.

Trade between the two countries has skyrocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Russian trade ministry said in February that trade with the UAE had jumped 68% in 2022 alone, reaching $9 billion. On Thursday, bin Zayed told Putin that the figure had already reached $11.5 billion.

“We would like this figure to be doubled both at the bilateral level and with Eurasian countries during the next five years,” he said during the meeting, according to Russian news outlet TASS. He also noted that relations between both countries were growing “at an accelerated pace.”

Putin and bin Zayed have met often since they signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2018. And while most Western nations have either sanctioned or isolated Russia, the UAE has stayed neutral. It hasn’t joined any sanctions and has instead welcomed Russian oligarchs, expats, and businesses. Roughly 4,000 Russian companies now operate in the Emirates.

U.S. officials watch UAE ties with Russia grow

That relationship has drawn sharp attention from Washington. In 2023, the Biden administration labeled the UAE a “country of focus” for helping Moscow bypass U.S. sanctions. The U.S. Treasury said companies in the UAE moved over $5 million worth of U.S.-controlled goods to Russia during the second half of 2022, including semiconductors capable of powering battlefield weapons in Ukraine.

Still, Abu Dhabi hasn’t picked a side. It has called for an end to the fighting without backing either Russia or Ukraine. That neutrality has turned it into a critical stop for Russia’s global trade and financial survival, especially as European routes collapse under sanctions.

After the Witkoff meeting, pro-Kremlin war blogger Yuri Podolyaka posted that Putin had pulled off a “masterful diplomatic game,” saying the Russian leader had managed to spin Trump into a “carousel of negotiations.” Podolyaka’s Telegram channel has over 3 million followers.

Back in Washington, Trump isn’t just focusing on Russia. On Wednesday, he announced a new 25% tariff on Indian goods, starting August 28, in direct response to New Delhi’s ongoing oil trade with Moscow. Trump also said similar tariffs could soon hit China, another major buyer of Russian oil.

Ushakov made one final point: this meeting might actually open a new phase in U.S.-Russia ties. He said both sides believe relations “can be built according to a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario” from the one that’s defined the last few years.

Whether that actually happens depends on what gets decided when Trump and Putin finally sit across from each other again, not in theory, but in a room, face to face.

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