Trump downplays Putin decision to skip Istanbul talks with Zelenskyy

DOHA, Qatar — President Donald Trump said Thursday he was not surprised that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be a no-show for anticipated peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey this week.

Trump had pressed for Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in Istanbul. He brushed off Putin's apparent decision to not take part in the expected talks.

''I didn't think it was possible for Putin to go if I'm not there,'' Trump said in an exchange with reporters as he took part in a business roundtable with executives in Doha on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.

Trump earlier this week floated potentially attending himself. The U.S. president, however, noted on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already in the country for meetings with NATO counterparts. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, also plans to be in Istanbul on Friday for the anticipated Russia-Ukraine talks.

The push for direct talks between Zelenskyy and Putin comes amid a flurry of negotiations aimed at producing a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

Putin was first to propose restarting direct peace talks Thursday with Ukraine in the Turkish city that straddles Asia and Europe. Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin leader to meet in Turkey in person.

But the Kremlin has said its delegation at the talks will be led by Putin's aide, Vladimir Medinsky, and include three other officials. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy will only sit down with the Russian leader.

Later Thursday, Trump will visit a U.S. installation in Qatar at the center of American involvement in the Middle East. He has used his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the ''interventionism'' of America's past in the region.

Trump will address troops at Qatar's al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict. He has urged Qatari officials during his visit to use their influence to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

Trump says progress has been made in the talks but warned a ''violent step'' could be coming if a deal is not reached.

''Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They're not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust," Trump said at the business roundtable. "We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.''

After his address to U.S. troops, he will travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the final leg of his Mideast tour. He will visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the country's largest mosque. The UAE's founder, Sheikh Zayed, is buried in the mosque's main courtyard.

Trump will also be hosted for a state visit in the evening by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Qasr Al Watan palace.

Trump earlier this week met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and announced plans to ease sanctions on the war-torn country. The U.S. has deployed more than 1,000 troops in Syria for years to suppress a return of the Islamic State group.

Trump heaped praise on al-Sharaa — who was tied to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war — after the two met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The president called al-Sharaa a ''young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.''

It was a stark contrast from earlier years, when Al-Sharaa was imprisoned by U.S. troops in Iraq. Until December, there was a $10 million U.S. bounty for his arrest.

Trump said that the opinions of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were big factors in his decision to lift sanctions on Syria.

''President Erdogan called me and said, ''Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don't do that, they don't have a chance,'" Trump said. ''So, I did it.''

The Qatari base Trump is visiting houses some 8,000 U.S. troops, down from about 10,000 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The gas-rich Gulf country has spent some $8 billion over two decades in developing the base, built on a flat stretch of desert about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Qatar's capital, Doha. The base was once considered so sensitive that American military officers would say only that it was somewhere ''in southwest Asia.''

Trump said he and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, would also see a demonstration of American air capability, as the U.S. leader looks to boost defense exports to the region.

''You're buying a lot of that equipment actually,'' Trump said Wednesday when he and Sheikh Tamim signed a series of bilateral and business agreements between the two countries. ''And I think we're going to see some of it in action tomorrow at the — we won't call it an air fair, but its going to be sort of an air fair. We're going to be showing a display that's going to be incredible. They have the latest and the greatest of our planes and just about everything else.''

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Madhani reported from Dubai. Associated Press writer Gabe Levin in Dubai contributed to this report.