The Kremlin said Friday that President Vladimir Putin was ready to talk to US counterpart Donald Trump but was waiting for “signals” from Washington.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: “Putin is ready. We are waiting for signals” from the United States.

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

Trump has threatened Russia with tougher economic sanctions if Moscow does not agree to end the conflict.

Peskov said that he could not comment further on a meeting between the leaders, saying it was “hard to read coffee grounds” to predict the future.

The Kremlin spokesman rejected a claim from Trump that the conflict in Ukraine could be ended by lowering the price Russia receives for its oil, saying: “This conflict does not depend on oil prices.”

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Trump said that he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, saying: “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”

Peskov said the conflict was instead based on “threats to Russia’s national security” and “threats to Russians” living in Ukraine and “the lack of desire and complete refusal of Americans and Europeans to listen to Russia’s concerns”. (AFP)