Work under way on Putin-Trump-Xi trilateral meeting at APEC in Shenzhen, Kremlin says
Discussions are under way to prepare a trilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
According to Peskov, the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the upcoming APEC summit on November 18-19 in Shenzhen, China, which all three leaders are scheduled to attend.
Putin publicly welcomed the prospect on Sunday, while noting that it would depend to a large extent on the Chinese hosts.
Peskov said there was a common understanding among the participants in such a potential meeting that it would be appropriate and highly useful. Work is under way to coordinate the meeting, he said, adding that they hoped it would be finalised in the coming days.
Trump told reporters last month that he would meet Putin and Xi, initially on denuclearization, but also to discuss Ukraine. He said at the time that he would do anything he could to end the war.
Kyiv, however, has met the prospect of a trilateral meeting with concern. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that it should take place after a meeting that includes Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in late October, he said he really did not want it to become a 'Yalta 2, 3, 4', with a redistribution of influence — a reference to the 1945 Yalta Conference, where the US, British and Soviet leaders agreed on aspects of the postwar settlement in Europe, including the occupation of Germany.
China has not commented on the possibility of a trilateral meeting. But German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who met Xi last week, told ARD that the Chinese leader looked 'surprised' when asked about potential Ukraine talks and rejected the idea that China, Russia and the US would discuss Ukraine in a trilateral meeting.
The Chinese foreign ministry told the Financial Times that it was 'in communication with relevant parties regarding the meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of state', without mentioning Trump.
