WASHINGTON, August 7. /TASS/. The US administration has declined to specify if President Donald Trump is ready to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin without holding trilateral talks involving Vladimir Zelensky.
"I'm going to refer you to the White House on that one for details on the President's schedule," US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a briefing, when asked if a summit between Trump and Putin could happen without the Russian president agreeing to a Zelensky meeting as well.
"Our ultimate goal is to end this conflict, get the parties to the table, see a ceasefire and a long and enduring peace. But for details on the President's schedule, I refer you to the White House," he said.
"This is a question of seeing actions to match up the words, but also is indicative of the commitment that we have made clear from the beginning of this administration, that we stand ready to aid in the pursuit of peace, try to end this conflict, stop the carnage. That is our driving policy here that remains, our driving policy, and getting the size to the table is key to reaching a diplomatic solution to this conflict. So it's not about trust, it's about action, and it's about doing everything we can to aid in the pursuit of peace and bring this war to an end," the diplomat pointed out.
He declined to say whether US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the near future to prepare a Putin-Trump meeting. "I have nothing to preview in terms of his schedule at this point," Pigott noted.
He also declined to say what could happen if Moscow and Washington failed to agree on terms for resolving the Ukraine conflict. "I'm not going to predict the future. What I can talk about again is our commitment now, what we have done, what we continue to do, engagement at the highest levels of this administration to try to end this conflict and stop the carnage," Pigott emphasized.