Putin ready to work with US companies on mining rare-earth deposits in Russian-occupied Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation was ready to work with U.S. companies to secure rare raw minerals within the nation’s borders in hopes of ending the conflict in Ukraine after three years of war.

“It is important to emphasize that Russia possesses significantly — I want to stress this — significantly larger resources of this kind than Ukraine. Russia is one of the uncontested leaders when it comes to rare and rare-earth metal reserves,” Putin told reporters during a Monday interview aired on state TV, according to a transcript provided by the Kremlin.

He urged partners to substantially invest in the harnessing of resources for the use of microelectronics, energy and building infrastructure for the digital economy.

Putin’s statement comes after American officials proposed that Ukraine allow the U.S. access to its raw minerals to recoup billions of U.S. dollars designated to support Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently joined a U.S. delegation to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for peace negotiations alongside Vice President Vance. Vance described the meeting as "fruitful" and noted "economic tools of leverage" could be used to materialize discussions surrounding ending the violence in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“We would be happy to cooperate with any foreign partners, including American companies,” Putin said, later noting that some discussions with U.S. businesses interested in the venture are already underway.

“The same is true for the new territories: We are open to foreign partnerships. Our historical territories that have become part of the Russian Federation again also hold certain reserves. We are ready to work there with international partners, including Americans,” he added, referring to parts of Ukraine that are under Russian control.

Putin also spoke to sanctions that, he said, if lifted, could be a profitable anchor in the U.S.-Russia economic trade relationship to secure new energy sourcing.

“If a decision is made to open the U.S. market to our producers, we could sell about 2 million tonnes on the U.S. market, which would not drastically affect prices, but, I think, would still have a restraining influence on prices,” the Russian leader outlined.

Putin’s comments lauded President Trump as an unfettered negotiator who “is not bound by past commitments,” further egging rhetoric of a potential ceasefire or peace deal for financial gain.

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