'Americans need it, we’ve a lot of them’: Is Putin proposing a rare earth deal to Trump as Ukraine stutters?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his country’s rare earth to the US after his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy went on the fence about the idea of striking a minerals deal with Washington in exchange for its continued support.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said that it sees potential in raking up a possible deal with the US to develop Russia’s large reserves of strategically important rare and rare earth minerals.

In a televised interview, Putin said Russia is ready to work with “foreign partners including Americans” to develop such reserves in Russia and its “new territories”, referring to areas it has occupied in Ukraine through its military offensive.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Quite broad prospects are opening up here. The Americans need rare earth minerals. We have a lot of them.”

Critical minerals including rare earth elements are increasingly important given their use in clean energy technologies like batteries for electric cars.

Zelenskyy tiptoes

US President Donald Trump is pushing for Ukraine to sign a deal giving it privileged access to its reserves of valuable minerals such as titanium and lithium.

Meanwhile, last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “ not ready ” to sign a deal that would give the United States access to his country’s rare earth minerals, a source told AFP.

“In the form in which the draft is now, the president is not ready to accept, we are still trying to make changes and add constructiveness,” a Ukrainian source close to the matter said.

The Ukrainian leader has also rejected a US proposal that sought as much as 50 per cent of Ukraine’s minerals including graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component in electric car batteries.

Ukraine possesses extensive reserves of essential minerals and elements, including lithium and titanium, which are crucial for modern technology production. Additionally, the country has significant coal, oil, gas, and uranium deposits, though a large portion of these resources is currently located in areas controlled by Russia.

‘Will take small steps’

While Russia has also seized on the topic with Putin, Peskov cautioned that Russia still needs time to rebuild its relations with the United States, which has imposed heavy sanctions on its economy over the Ukraine conflict.

“In order to say we trust the Americans, we will have to take a serious journey… we will have to take very many small steps towards each other, which will facilitate the restoration of trust,” he said.

With inputs from agencies