Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his readiness to host Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Moscow. Holding meetings for the sake of meetings, however, is a “path to nowhere” and such talks must be meaningful, he stressed.

The Russian president made the remarks on Wednesday during a major press conference at the Diaoyutai Residence in Beijing, China.

“It’s a path to nowhere, to just meet, let’s put it carefully, the de-facto head of the [Ukrainian] administration. It’s possible, I’ve never refused to, if such a meeting is well-prepared and would lead to some potential positive results,” Putin stated.

US President Donald Trump asked the Russian president to hold such a meeting during their summit in Alaska last month, Putin added. “If Zelensky is ready, he can come to Moscow, and such a meeting will take place,” he said.

At the same time, Putin reiterated concerns about the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leader and whether meeting him would actually be “meaningful.” Zelensky’s presidential term has long run out, and no legal mechanism to extend it exists in Ukraine, he said.

In an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas released on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Moscow’s top priority remains settling the crisis via peaceful means, adding that it is taking concrete steps to achieve that goal.

Lavrov recalled that Moscow initiated the resumption of direct Russia-Ukraine talks this spring, resulting in three rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul, Türkiye. He noted that the sides reached “certain progress,” including prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.