In a significant development, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan 24 reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for truce talks. Blaming the previous administration, Putin claimed, “If Trump were president, the Ukraine crisis wouldn’t have happened”. Possibility of imposing additional sanctions, Praising Trump as ‘smart, pragmatic’ Putin doubted he’d impose sanctions to ‘harm’ US economy. Russia and US both repeatedly reaffirmed their intention to hold talks and put an end to the 3-year long Ukraine crisis.