One topic, Ukraine, was at the heart of a long-distance public dialogue between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that took place Thursday, March 13. Welcoming his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, to Moscow, the Russian president paid lip service to the 30-day ceasefire proposal put forward by the White House and accepted by Kyiv. Meanwhile, in Washington, Trump received NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The American-Russian rapprochement and the billionaire's conditional acceptance of solidarity between allies are of great concern to NATO's European members. But by the end of the day, neither peace in Ukraine nor the future of NATO were outlined more clearly.

Putin's response was eagerly awaited, following Ukraine's acceptance of the principle of a ceasefire, during talks with the United States in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 11. "We are also in favour of it, but there are nuances," warned the Russian president, saying he wanted to "talk them over" with the Americans and "perhaps have a telephone conversation with President Trump." He thanked Trump for his efforts to resolve the conflict, before emphasizing that he still had "serious issues." In other words, his preconditions. These were at the heart of exchanges between the Russian president and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Moscow on Thursday. The Kremlin said it was "cautiously optimistic" after that meeting. While the White House had announced that Witkoff's stay in Moscow would last until Sunday, he left in the early hours of Friday morning, carrying a message from Putin to Trump, the Kremlin said.

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