Putin dangles rare earths deals for US in Russia and occupied Ukraine
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Feb 26
- 3 min read
By Anton Troianovski
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that U.S. companies could do lucrative business deals in Russia and even help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied Ukraine, further amplifying the Kremlin’s message to President Donald Trump that there was money to be made from a better relationship with Moscow.
Putin, in an interview with Russian state television that was released late Monday, said Russia had an “order of magnitude” more rare earth metals than Ukraine and that Moscow was “ready to work with our foreign partners, including the Americans,” in developing those deposits.
He said the invitation applied to Russian-occupied Ukraine, as well, adding that U.S. companies could also “make good money” by helping to develop aluminum production in Siberia.
“There is something to think about here,” Putin said, referring to aluminum, “as well as about joint work on rare earth metals and in other areas, for example, energy.”
The interview showed Putin working hard to appeal to Trump’s interest in profits and deal-making. It came as Trump has swung U.S. foreign policy in Putin’s favor at dizzying speed, as underscored by the United States siding with Russia in votes at the United Nations on Monday about the war in Ukraine.
Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to agree to grant the United States a share of its revenue from mining rare earth metals and other natural resources. The two sides were closing in on such an agreement on Monday.
Putin praised Trump’s recent comments about a potential deal in which the United States, Russia and China would halve their defense budgets.
“It seems to me that the idea is good: The United States would reduce by 50%, and we would reduce by 50%, and the People’s Republic of China would then join in if it wants,” Putin said. “We think that the proposal is good and are ready for discussions on this matter.”
But the interview also showed that Putin appears to be in far less of a hurry than Trump to end the war in Ukraine. Russia continues to slowly gain ground on the battlefield, while Ukraine struggles with a dearth of personnel and uncertainty about the future of U.S. support.
Putin said there was little discussion about the war in his Feb. 12 call with Trump and last week’s meeting between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia — a cautionary note about the prospects for imminent peace compared with recent statements from Trump, who has said that the war could end within weeks.
“We touched on problems related to the Ukraine crisis, but it itself was not substantively discussed,” Putin said of the recent talks between the United States and Russia. “We only agreed that we would move toward this.”
Asked by the reporter for Russian state television whether Trump was playing into Russia’s hands, Putin said no and praised Trump for using “a rational approach to the current situation.”
“He is in a unique position,” Putin said. “He does not simply say what he thinks, but he says what he wants.”
Putin said Trump was right to criticize President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the lack of elections in Ukraine during martial law — a stance that Putin has pushed for months, calling Zelenskyy an illegitimate president.
In a new talking point, Putin appeared to assert that Ukraine’s rightful president should be Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military commander for the first two years of the war who is now ambassador to London.
Putin said Zaluzhny was twice as popular as Zelenskyy inside Ukraine, without providing the source for his figures. Polling does show Zelenskyy trailing Zaluzhny in a hypothetical presidential election, but by much narrower margins.
Putin said Zelenskyy would have “absolutely no chance of winning the elections” against Zaluzhny. Putin referred to the general as “Mr. Zaluzhny,” a notable courtesy given that Putin almost never uses Zelenskyy’s name in public.
Comments