Russia is waiting for signals from Washington to commence highly anticipated peace negotiations to end the war with Ukraine.

Any conversation between the two would mark the first time a sitting U.S. president and Putin have spoken since the war in Ukraine began, although former President Joe Biden held phone calls with Putin multiple times in the leadup to Moscow's invasion to urge Putin against it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (Jan 28) said that he would allocate people to hold peace talks with Ukraine if Volodymyr Zelensky wants to take part in the negotiations, however, he ruled out the possibility of speaking directly to the Ukrainian leader,