Putin offers to sell rare-earth minerals to US, including from occupied territories of Ukraine

Russian leader Vladimir Putin offered on Monday evening to sell Russian rare-earth minerals to the United States, including from Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.

Putin said Russia is ready to work with its partners, including American companies, in the field of rare-earth metals.

"We certainly have, I want to emphasise, significantly more resources of this kind [in Russia] than Ukraine," Putin said in an interview with propagandist Pavel Zarubin, as quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Putin declared that Russia "is one of the undisputed leaders in terms of reserves of these rare and rare-earth metals".

"We would be happy to work with any foreign partners, including the US," Putin added.

The Kremlin leader added that Russia is ready to resume aluminium supplies to the US, selling 2 million tonnes, and said Russian and US companies are currently discussing joint projects.

Furthermore, Putin said that potential rare-earth metals exploration deals could be extended to include deposits in Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports.

Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump told reporters in Washington that there would be "major economic development deals with Russia". Within two hours of the US president's statement, Putin held an unannounced meeting with his ministers and economic advisers on rare-earth metals.

Data from the US Geological Survey shows that Russia has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare-earth metals after China, Brazil, India and Australia.

On 24 February, Trump said he was ready to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House "this week or next week" to sign an agreement on the use of mineral resources.

Meanwhile, the European Commission said that the EU has offered Ukraine a mutually beneficial agreement on Ukraine’s critical minerals.