THE Kremlin said today that a deal to end the war in Ukraine couldn’t be facilitated by a drop in global oil prices, contrary to what US President Donald Trump has suggested.

Addressing the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video from the White House, 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.

“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” he claimed. 

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a media conference that the invasion of Ukraine had been triggered by the West’s refusal to take into account Russian security interests.

“The conflict doesn’t depend on oil prices,” Mr Peskov said, but was “ongoing because of the threat to Russia’s national security, the threat to Russians living on those territories and the refusal by the Americans and the Europeans to listen to Russia’s security concerns. It’s not linked to oil prices.”

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained ready for talks with Mr Trump.

Mr Putin maintains he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to counter a threat to Russia’s security from Ukrainian plans to join Nato and the need to protect Russian-speakers living there. 

Ukraine and the West have denounced Moscow’s action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Asked to comment on Mr Trump’s claim that President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready for a peace deal, Mr Peskov pointed to the Ukrainian leader’s earlier decision to rule out talks with Moscow.

Mr Peskov told reporters that “in order to reach a settlement, it’s necessary to conduct talks and Zelensky forbade himself to hold talks by his own decree.”

On Wednesday, President Trump threatened to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war.