WASHINGTON, May 12. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump says that if his presence at the upcoming Istanbul talks is needed to bring the sides closer to a deal, he will not shy away from coming there.
When asked whether he was ready to join Europe and toughen anti-Russian sanctions, Trump replied: "If I felt it would be important toward getting the deal done."
"I'm the one that insisted on the meeting. They couldn't get a meeting because one said ‘ceasefire,’ one said ‘no ceasefire.’ [They were] going back and forth. I said: ‘Look, at this point we got to stop it. Just go to the meeting. The meeting has been set. Go to the meeting on Thursday’," he continued.
"I don't know where I'm going to be at that particular point. I'll be someplace in the Middle East, but I would fly there if I thought it would be helpful," Trump said.
When asked whether he was ready to impose additional sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not agree to the 30-day ceasefire, Trump replied he has "a feeling" that Russia will agree to the proposal.
He also hinted that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky could be present in Istanbul.
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin early on May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the Kiev authorities to resume the direct talks they broke off in 2022 without any preliminary conditions. He proposed to launch a dialogue on May 15 in Istanbul. The Russian leader recalled that Russia had declared ceasefires more than once but all of them, including the latest three-day V-Day truce, were violated by the Kiev regime.