The Kremlin said there are currently no plans for President Vladimir Putin to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump amid a rise in talk of finding a peace deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
Trump told a conservative convention on December 22 that Putin said he "wants to meet with me as soon as possible.”
In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on December 23 that "so far, there have been no real impulses" for a meeting with Trump before his inauguration in January.
Fighting between Russia and Ukraine has ratcheted up in recent weeks, with Moscow launching waves of drones and missiles across Ukrainian territory, mainly aimed at civilian and energy infrastructure.
Kyiv has countered with attacks on Russian oil and energy targets just inside Russian territory and over the weekend struck high-rise buildings in Kazan, the capital of Russia's oil-rich republic of Tatarstan.
Last week Putin dangled the prospect of Russian concessions before audiences in Washington and the West, saying more than once during his annual question-and-answer conference that Russia was ready for a compromise.
But he attached numerous conditions to the idea of compromise, suggesting Moscow’s goal of subjugating Ukraine and winning major security guarantees from NATO and the West remain in place, as well as saying he does not consider Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a legitimate leader.
Trump has said he would move to end the war quickly and during his remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest convention on December 22, said, "We have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible."
Analysts say that behind closed doors in Moscow, Kyiv, Brussels, Washington, and other capitals diplomats, elected leaders, and military officers are gearing up for what will likely be a full-court press to find a resolution to Europe's largest land war since World War II.
In Western negotiating rooms, sentiment has shifted decisively toward a push to resolve a conflict that has killed or wounded more than 1 million men on both sides over 34 months and counting.
In a rare meeting with a European Union leader, Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on December 22.
While the main topic was a soon-to-expire contract allowing for Russian natural gas to transit through Ukraine, the two leaders also talked about the military situation in Ukraine and the possibility of a peaceful settlement to the war.
Fico is one of the few European leaders with whom Putin has maintained ties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Kyiv said it will not extend the gas transit deal beyond January 1 as payments Russia receives for gas have helped fund Moscow's war.
Fico, whose views on Russia's war on Ukraine differ sharply from those of most European leaders, returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.
Since then, he has ended his country's military aid for Ukraine, hit out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO.
Zelenskiy warned on December 23 that Fico's stance on Russian gas was a "big security issue" for Europe.
"His key goal is to deal with Russia, and this is what benefits him. This is indeed a big security issue -- both for Slovakia and the entire Europe," Zelenskiy said on X.
"Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?" he added.