米ロ首脳会談、「非常に近いうちに」実現 トランプ氏

【ウェストパームビーチＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ米大統領は１６日、ロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領と「非常に近いうちに」会談する可能性があると語った。また、プーチン氏はウクライナでの戦闘を本当に「止めたいと考えている」との見方を示した。（写真は、米フロリダ州ウェストパームビーチのパームビーチ国際空港に降り立った後、記者団に話すドナルド・トランプ大統領）
　トランプ氏は記者団に対し会談について、「日程は決まっていないが、非常に近いかもしれない」と述べた。
　トランプ氏はまた、スティーブ・ウィトコフ中東担当特使が最近、プーチン氏と約３時間にわたり会談したとし、米政権は同特使やロシア当局者と「長く懸命に」話し合ってきたと語った。
　マルコ・ルビオ米国務長官も数日中にサウジアラビアの首都リヤドで行われるロシア当局者との協議に、米代表団を率いて出席する予定となっている。
　ウクライナのウォロディミル・ゼレンスキー大統領が１６日、トランプ氏が北大西洋条約機構（ＮＡＴＯ）への米国の支援を後退させた場合、ロシアは弱体化したＮＡＴＯに対して「戦争を仕掛ける」だろうと警告したことについて聞かれたトランプ氏は、「少しも」心配していないと答えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/02/17-17:04）

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he could meet very soon with Vladimir Putin, adding he believes his Russian counterpart genuinely wants to stop fighting in Ukraine.
No time set, but it could be very soon, Trump told reporters, hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to play down expectations of upcoming high-level talks in Riyadh on ending the war.
With Rubio set to lead a high-level American delegation at the discussions with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia's capital in the coming days, a flurry of diplomacy was taking place as the brutal Ukraine war nears its third anniversary.
Trump, addressing reporters after a flight on Air Force One, said his team has been speaking long and hard with Russian officials, including his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff whom the president said met with Putin for about three hours recently.
I think he wants to stop fighting, Trump said of Putin.
Asked whether he believes Putin wants to seize the entirety of Ukraine, Trump said: That was my question to him.
If he's going to go on... that would have caused me a big problem, Trump added.
I think he wants to end it, and they want to end it fast. Both of them, he said, adding Zelensky wants to end it too.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile said Sunday he believes Russia is preparing to wage war against a weakened NATO should Trump dilute US support for the alliance.
Trump appeared to dismiss Zelensky's remarks, telling reporters he was not even a little bit concerned about the Ukrainian leader's messaging.
The Republican had repeatedly insisted he would end the Ukraine conflict in a single day if he returned to the White House, but Rubio stressed it would not be easy to resolve such a long-running, bloody and complex conflict.
A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing, America's top diplomat said in an interview with CBS on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
- 'Nothing' finalized -
Rubio is set to lead a high-level US team to Riyadh, but it remains unclear whether there will be any Ukrainian participation. Rubio said he wasn't even sure who Moscow was sending.
Nothing's been finalized yet, he said, adding the aim was to seek an opening for a broader conversation that would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war.
Witkoff and US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz are both expected to attend the talks.
Trump and Putin held a lengthy phone call Wednesday in which they agreed to start ceasefire negotiations immediately.
The call blindsided NATO allies as well as Kyiv, with Zelensky insisting there should be no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.
Right now there is no process, said Rubio, who spoke by phone Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. One phone call does not make peace.
In an interview with NBC broadcast Sunday, Zelensky had said Putin was a serial liar and could not be trusted as a negotiating partner.
I don't think in geopolitics, anyone should trust anyone, Rubio said.
The next few weeks and days will determine whether (Putin) is serious or not.