MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin, that the United States and Russia were working on ideas around a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday he was very angry after the Russian president last week criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership, the television network reported.
Trump said he would be forced to impose secondary tariffs of 25% to 50% on buyers of Russian oil if he felt Moscow was blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine. China and India are big buyers of Russian oil.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was continuing to work with Washington and that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
A call between Trump and Putin could be set up at short notice if necessary, though no call was scheduled for this week, he said.
“We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all, to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous administration,” Peskov said.
“And we are also working on the implementation of some ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement. This work is underway, but so far there are no specifics that we could or should tell you about. This is a time-consuming process, probably due to its complexity.”
Since taking office in January, Trump has adopted a more conciliatory stance towards Russia that has left Western allies wary as he tries to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
His comments about Putin on Sunday reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault … I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said.
“That would be, that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
Trump later told reporters he was disappointed with Putin but added: “I think we are making progress, step by step.”
Trump said he could impose the new trade measures within a month.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva and Andrew Osborn, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
