Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Monday he is open to foreign investments – including those from the US – to develop mineral resources in Russia and occupied Ukraine.
After summoning a cabinet meeting to discuss Russia’s mineral and rare earth resources, Putin said in televised comments that Russia “must do more” to utilize the country’s leading global reserves, adding that he would “work with pleasure” with foreign investments to explore those resources, including those in “new territories,” namely regions in occupied Ukraine.
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“We would work with pleasure with any foreign partners including with Americans,” Putin said, according to The Moscow Times.
“We are also ready to attract foreign partners to our so-called new territories – our historic territories that have gone back to being part of Russia,” Putin added, referring to the Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation.
In late 2022, Russia announced the annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Kyiv and Western governments said the votes breached international law and ruled them as illegitimate and non-representative.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said in September 2024 that Russia aims to capture all four regions by force in 2025.
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Putin’s comments came as US President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine recently to sign a deal that would take away 50% of profits from mineral rights and other resources to the US as compensation for US aid.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the profit stipulated in the draft deal goes far beyond what Ukraine received and refused to sign Trump’s deal at its current form, saying that he could not have “ten generations of Ukrainians” to pay off that debt, CNN reported.
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