Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, mentioned that Moscow is open to the idea of collaborating with the United States in the extraction of rare earth minerals in Russia and certain areas of Ukraine that are under Russian control.
During an interview aired on Russian state television, Putin highlighted the significant reserves of rare earth minerals in Russia and their crucial role in the Russian economy. He acknowledged that Russia must take further steps to fully utilize its mineral resources and also indicated a willingness to negotiate an energy agreement with the U.S.
These statements by Putin coincide with efforts by the Trump administration to recover the expenses incurred from providing assistance to Ukraine through securing access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals like titanium, iron, and uranium as part of a potential peace agreement.
“Russia is one of the undisputed leaders in terms of reserves of these rare and rare-earth metals,” Putin told state media correspondent Pavel Zarubin. “These are quite capital-intensive investments, capital-intensive projects. We would be happy to work together with any foreign partners, including American ones.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is willing to consider cooperating with the U.S. in mining rare earth minerals both in Russia and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine. (Contributor/Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
“In fact, he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be nice, I’d love to meet him. Would meet at the Oval Office,” Trump said. “The agreement is being worked on now.”
“They are very close to a final deal,” said the president, who was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office on Monday.
Trump said the deal is “very beneficial to their economy,” while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added it is “very close.”
Trump’s comments come just after he posted on Truth Social that he was in “serious discussions” with Putin about ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow and Washington could make a deal on mining rare earth minerals both in Russia and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine. (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)
The president on Monday also predicted that the Russia-Ukraine war could end within weeks and that Putin would accept allowing European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal.
Trump administration officials, including White House national security advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recently with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict.
Ukraine was absent from the negotiations in Saudi Arabia, a move that irked Zelenskyy.
