Russian President Putin told the Slovak PM that Moscow and Washington had a ‘mutual understanding’ on how to end the war.
Published On 2 Sep 2025
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said the United States was listening to its justifications for the invasion of Ukraine and claimed that Moscow and Washington had reached a “mutual understanding” about the three-and-a-half-year war.
“Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said at a bilateral meeting with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday.
“We are very happy about this and hope this constructive dialogue will continue,” Putin added.
The Slovak prime minister, who has opposed Western sanctions on Russia and has been critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is the only European leader scheduled to attend China’s Victory Day parade on Wednesday.
Putin’s comments come as Moscow is still under pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to end the war in Ukraine. Washington has imposed additional tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil, a move aimed at increasing pressure on the Kremlin.
Trump claimed that he had made “great progress” after meeting Putin in Alaska last month, though no deal had been reached to secure an end to Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.
European Union membership
Ukraine and Western European leaders have argued that Moscow is not serious about ending the war and have said that if Russia were to win, then Putin could further target the continent and the NATO military alliance.
However, Putin pushed back against these claims, which he referred to as “horror stories” and “hysteria” promoted by “incompetent people” wanting to cast Russia as an enemy.
“As for Ukraine’s membership of the EU, we have never objected to this,” Putin told Fico during the talks in Beijing.
“As for NATO, this is another issue … Our position here is well known: we consider this unacceptable for ourselves,” he emphasised.
The Russian leader also said he had spoken to Trump during the Alaska summit about Ukraine’s security and said that there were “options”.
“It seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus here,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, said that during talks with Fico, Putin reiterated that Russia has to “look out for its own security”.
“[Putin said] discussions on any kind of security guarantees for Ukraine need to involve Russia,” she noted.
Ceasefire talks
While Fico told Putin that Slovakia was “extremely interested” in standardising relations with Russia, other Western European leaders have continued to show support for Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that he would suggest the Swiss city of Geneva as a suitable future venue for ceasefire talks on Thursday. Trump had proposed a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin in a push to end the war.
Also on Tuesday, dozens of European nations will join a meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, put together by France and Britain, to deliberate the post-war security situation in Ukraine.
However, negotiation talks have faltered as Moscow wants to hold all the territories it has captured since its invasion in 2022, while Ukraine has ruled out giving up on its land. Ukraine’s European allies have also resisted the idea of Russia keeping Ukrainian land captured during the war.
