Vladimir Putin 'open to' visiting US for World Cup to get 'closer' to Trump, Russian ambassador tells LBC
Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin says leaders could meet again by end of year
Vladimir Putin is 'open to' attending the World Cup in the US next year, the Russian Ambassador told LBC.
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Andrei Kelin, the Russian Ambassador to the UK, told LBC the Russian President wants to foster 'closer links' to Donald Trump.
Mr Kelin said the Russian leader is even 'open to' visiting the US to attend the World Cup next summer.
"I hope we are going to discuss that and it will come to suit," he said.
The Kremlin leader and the US president will "hopefully" meet by the end of this calendar year, Mr Kelin said.
It comes as the US President gears up to meet Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday in Chequers during his state visit.
The Russian Ambassador said the US president's has an "understanding" of the war in Ukraine and "a vision which differs from many other leaders in Europe especially."
"Perhaps in tomorrow's conversation in Checkers, he will be able to deliver some of the views of the points to Prime Minister Starmer," he said.
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Mr Kelin said that peace talks should occur "as soon as possible" but "everybody should come to that with constructive suggestions and proposals".
Mr Trump arriving to the White House was a "a dramatic change of understanding of the situation", he said.
"President Trump understands much more about the grassroots of this conflict."
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Russian leader is "doing everything he can to avoid sanctions", including tricking the US president.
Mr Zelenskyy said the Russia-US summit in Alaska last month was a bid for Putin to "escape political isolation".
"I think it gave a lot to Putin," he said, of the meeting, "and I believe, if it was a trilateral meeting, we would have some result."
Since the meeting, Mr Trump has threatened sanctions against the Kremlin and called for NATO countries to stop buying Russian oil to end the war.
To hear the full interview with the Russian Ambassador join Nick Ferrari at Breakfast from 7am or follow on the new LBC App