‘Thanks to President Trump’ ties between Russia, US stabilising: Putin

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President Vladimir Putin, who supported US President Donald Trump’s efforts to improve, said Russian US relations were starting to stabilize.

Putin confirmed his consent to meet Trump and “great respect” for him. Patin said such a meeting “is quite possible”, despite the fact that he would need a tough plan.

“In general, the relations between Russia and the United States have begun to advance in some ways,” Putin told a press conference in Minsk.

“Not everything has been decided in the circle of diplomatic relations, but first steps have been taken and we are moving forward.”

Putin also said in a surprising statement that Russia wants to reduce its military spending from next year, and on the contrary, with NATO’s plan to increase defense spending in the next decade.

On Wednesday, NATO allies agreed to increase their collective spending by 5 % of the total domestic products in the next 10 years, citing that they cited the need to strengthen the long -term threat and strengthen civil and military flexibility by Russia.

In his first reaction to the move, Putin said that NATO’s expenses would go on “purchase from the United States and support their military industrial complex”, and it was not Russia’s but NATO business.

He said, “But now the most important thing here is. We are planning to reduce defense spending. Over the next year and after the next three years, we are planning for it.”

Putin said that no final agreement has been reached between defense, finance and economy ministries, “but overall, everyone is thinking in this direction. And Europe is thinking about increasing its costs. So who is preparing for any kind of aggressive measures?”

Putin’s comments will probably be welcomed in the West with the utmost doubt, because Russia has increased defense spending since the beginning of the Ukraine War.

There is no sign of the end of the conflict, and in fact it has intensified in recent weeks, as negotiations have made no progress towards a ceasefire or a permanent settlement.

Putin said Russia praised Trump’s efforts to end the war.

Putin said, “He recently said that it proved to be more difficult than outside. Well, that’s true.”

Trump said this week that he believes the Putin wants to find a way to resolve the conflict, but Ukraine and many of its European allies believe that the Kremlin leader has no real interest in the peace deal and plans to occupy more territory.

Putin said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are in constant contact, and Moscow is ready to return the bodies of 3,000 more Ukrainian soldiers.

‘Work’ to resolve the Russian war

Meanwhile, President Trump said on Friday that he thinks that there will be something in the Russian war in Ukraine, which will be “resolved”, citing a recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin but will not provide any other details.

“We are working on it. President Putin called and he said, I would love to help you with Iran. I said, do me favor: I will handle Iran. Help me with Russia. We need to decide. And I think something is going to happen,” Trump said.

He also praised the Russian President for his remarks and said that Putin made some good statements today.

Slow economic growth

Russia is watching the slowdown in economic growth as the budget is under pressure from reduction in energy revenue and the central bank is trying to reduce inflation.

Russia has increased the state’s overall domestic product (GDP) by increasing state spending on national defense by 2025, which is the highest level after the Cold War. Defense costs account for 32 % of the total 2025 federal budget costs.

Defense plants have been working 24 hours for the past several years, and the state has spent a lot of bonuses to sign the families of the victims and attract soldiers for compensation.

Putin acknowledged that Russia had paid an increase in military spending with inflation.

The Ministry of Finance has increased the budget deficit of 2025 to 1.7 % of the total domestic products in April to reduce its energy income by 24 %, and this year plans to join the financial reserves this year to balance the budget. The next draft budget is about to appear in the autumn.