Russia confirmed on Friday that peace talks with Ukraine are “more on pause than active” as the country holds large military drills with Belarus. President Donald Trump also warned on Friday that his patience is “sort of running out” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, told reporters on Friday, “The channels of communication exist and are established; our negotiators are able to use them to communicate. However, at the moment, it’s fair to say things are more on pause than active interaction.”
“It’s important not to wear rose-tinted glasses or expect that the negotiation process will deliver lightning-fast results,” Peskov added. “I want to remind you of President Trump’s own words: at first, he thought it could be settled quickly, but later realized it would take more time.”
While the Kremlin spokesman claimed that Russia continues to be “ready to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue,” Peskov argued that European leaders are “hindering” the negotiation process.
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During a Friday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” Trump was asked if his patience with Putin was running out. In response, the president said, “Yeah. It’s sort of running out and running out fast. But it does take two to tango. It’s amazing, when Putin wants to do it, Zelensky didn’t. When Zelensky wanted to do it, Putin didn’t. Now Zelensky wants to, and Putin is a question mark. But, we’re going to have to come down very, very strong.”
Asked what his administration would do to place more pressure on Russia to end the war with Ukraine, Trump said, “It will be hitting hard with sanctions to banks and having to do with oil and tariffs also. But I’ve already done it, I’ve done a lot.”
As an example, the president explained that he placed a 50 percent tariff on India because the country was continuing to purchase oil from Russia amid economic sanctions.
“That’s not an easy thing to do. That’s a big deal and it causes a rift with India,” Trump said. “And remember this, this is a Europe problem, much more than our problem.”
According to Al Jazeera, the report that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been paused comes as Russia and Belarus launched major military exercises on Friday. The outlet noted that the Zapad 2025 Maneuvers are currently scheduled to run through Tuesday.
In a statement obtained by Al Jazeera, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, “The objectives of the drills are to improve the skills of commanders and staffs, the level of cooperation and field training of regional and coalition groupings of troops.”
According to Al Jazeera, Peskov told reporters that the joint military drills “are not aimed against any other country.”