On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is not against Europe's participation in Russia-US peace negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian issue. Putin also said that Brussels had long denied any dialogue with Moscow. 

In an interview on Russian state television, Putin said that U.S. President Donald Trump is handling the Russia-Ukraine conflict with logic rather than emotions. Last week, Russia and the United States had their first round of talks about Ukraine in Saudi Arabia. However, Ukraine and its European allies were not invited, which led to objections from both. Putin also acknowledged that Europe's participation in negotiations to find a solution to the three-year-old crisis was reasonable. "Their participation in the negotiating process is needed. We never rejected that, we held constant discussions with them," said Putin.

"At times, on the pretext of inflicting on Russia a battlefield defeat, they were the ones who refused contact with us. If they want to come back, that's fine," Putin said adding that negative reactions to the talks in Riyadh had been "emotional and void of any kind of logic". He further added, "And why? Because in order to resolve complex and difficult questions, including the Ukrainian issue, Russia and the United States must make the first step. And that first step must be devoted to raising the level of trust between our countries. And that is what we did in Riyadh."

The Ukraine conflict had been discussed, he said, "but not in its essence. We simply agreed that we get to it. And here we are not rejecting the participation of European countries." "We could come to an agreement with the United States. We're not against that. The idea seems like a good one to me. The United States reduces theirs by 50 per cent and we reduce ours by 50 per cent. And China could join us later if it wishes," Putin said.

 Putin also dismissed the idea that Trump's big shift in Washington's Ukraine policy was driven by emotions. This includes Trump's criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his suggestion that Ukraine might not regain all its lost land.

According to Putin, Trump is making decisions based on logic and is not bound by the commitments that European leaders have made to Ukraine. "Unlike them, the new president of the United States has his hands free from shackles that don't allow you to move forward," he said.

"He is moving in a straightforward manner and without particular constraints. He is in a unique position: he doesn't just say what he thinks, he says what he wants. This is the privilege of the leader of one of the major powers," Putin added.