US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out accepting Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region when he meets his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next month.
Asked by reporters on Friday whether he was considering—as has been reported—dropping Washington's opposition to the 2014 land grab, Trump said, "We're going to have to see."
Trump's refusal to reaffirm the long-standing US opposition to Russia's intervention in Ukraine will dismay European allies ahead of next month's NATO summit.
Just days after Western leaders meet in Brussels on July 11, Trump is due to fly to Helsinki for his first one-on-one summit on July 16 with Putin.
Trump and Putin have met twice before on the sidelines of international gatherings and spoken at least eight times by phone. Trump and Putin have also made positive comments about each other now and then with Putin lauding Trump’s handling of the US economy.
The summit could irritate US allies, such as the UK, who want to isolate Putin, or countries such as Ukraine who are nervous about what they see as Trump’s overly friendly attitude toward the Russian leader.
Accepting that Crimea is never to return to Ukrainian control would be a major concession to Russia, which is languishing under tough international trade sanctions over its actions.
In early 2014, with areas of Ukraine falling into chaos in the wake of a Kiev street revolt that ousted a pro-Russian president, 'irregular' Russian troops seized Crimea.