The Kremlin says a settlement in Ukraine can't be facilitated by a drop in global oil prices as U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested.

Moscow believes it has the resources and manpower to withstand at least another year of the conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for a "signal" from his counterpart Donald Trump to kick-start talks on ending the Ukraine war. | TAG24

Expectations are high that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump will soon hold a phone call to discuss the conflict, after the Republican pledged on the campaign trail to bring a swift end to the fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to hold a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump and Moscow is waiting for word from Washington that it is ready too, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Speaking by video from the White House to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said on Thursday that the Opec+ alliance of oil exporting countries shares responsibility for the nearly three-year conflict in Ukraine because it has kept oil prices too high.

Putin and the newly inaugurated American president have both said they are ready to meet for talks on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to talk to US counterpart Donald Trump but is waiting for signals from Washington first, the Kremlin said on Friday, fuelling expectations the two would be

Moreover, the Kremlin said it wanted to resume nuclear disarmament talks with Trump’s administration “as soon as possible.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday echoed US President Donald Trump’s claim the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented had he been in the White House in 2022. He also said Moscow is ready for talks with the US on a broad range of issues.

In contrast, the Russian Federation has been referred to as an “imitation democracy”. It has institutions that one would find in democratic systems of government (a parliament and a directly elected president). But, among other flaws, these institutions do not function within a genuinely competitive or fair electoral environment.