BERLIN, August 26. /TASS/. Western countries are ready to tighten sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not meet with Vladimir Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Berlin, Merz stressed that "the ball is now in Moscow’s court." "If such a step does not follow from the Russian side, it will be necessary to increase pressure," Merz said. "For such a scenario, we in the European Union are working on new sanctions. The US President [Donald Trump], for his part, has not ruled out new punitive tariffs," the chancellor added.
Merz also recalled that Trump "suggested holding trilateral talks in that case — negotiations between him, Putin, and Zelensky." "That would then be the logical next step," the chancellor said.
On August 15, a meeting between Putin and Trump took place at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Alaska. In a statement to the press following the talks, Putin said that resolving the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of the summit. On August 18, Trump met in Washington with Zelensky and European leaders and also phoned Putin. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said that Putin and Trump expressed support for continuing direct consultations between Moscow and Kiev, including the idea of raising their level.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later noted, Russia is ready for negotiations on Ukraine in any format, provided the talks are honest and not limited to drawing the US into a European military campaign.
CNN reported, citing three White House officials, that the White House is considering Hungary and Switzerland as possible venues for a Putin-Zelensky meeting, as well as for a subsequent trilateral summit including Trump.