Russian strongman Vladimir Putin held a meeting on Monday to discuss the development of his country’s rare-earth mineral industry in which he suggested that he would welcome American investment in the sector in both his country and the parts of Ukraine that he has invaded and occupied.
The timing of the meeting coincides with President Donald Trump negotiating an agreement with Ukraine to develop its rare-earth and other critical mineral industry. President Trump has described the potential deal as a way for Washington get a return on its investment in Ukraine’s defense against the three-year-old Russian invasion of the country, which has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed some hesitation in public to the terms of such an agreement, his government officials announced on Monday that they were almost finished hashing out the details of an mineral development deal with America and the new terms were “very constructive” for both sides.
Putin abruptly welcoming American investment in the Russian mineral industry also coincided with a barrage of articles in Russian media downplaying Ukraine’s mineral wealth and arguing that Russia’s rare-earth industry is far more lucrative, an apparent attempt to undermine the Trump-Zelensky rare-earth agreement.
Rare-earth minerals are a group of mostly naturally occurring materials that have increased in economic importance over the past two decades as inventors have found use for them in “green” energy technology. These minerals are often discussed in tandem with other materials that are not officially on the list of rare-earths, such as lithium, which is indispensable for the manufacture of mobile phone and laptop batteries, among other uses.
Communist China currently dominates rare-earth mining and production. The Communist Party has invested heavily in rare-earth mining, a costly and environmentally devastating practice, and is believed to possess the world’s largest known reserves. In August, Beijing announced that it had reached record-high rare-earth mining quotas, extracting 270,000 tons of rare-earths.
The Kremlin published part of Putin’s remarks opening the meeting on Monday that did not discuss American involvement or foreign investment. In those comments, Putin noted the growing importance of the rare-earth industry and the opportunity he believed exists for Russia in that market.
“There is demand for rare-earth metals across multiple sectors, including microelectronics, energy, building infrastructure for the digital economy, and many other civilian and defence applications,” Putin said. “In fact, we are talking about almost all sectors within the new technological framework which defines progress around the world.”
Putin recalled the launch of a national project including “initiatives aimed at building a full-cycle rare and rare-earth metals sector, covering all the stages from their extraction and processing to the production of ready-to-use value-added high-technology products.”
“What we are talking about here is laying the strategic groundwork for our future, about a priority sector that already defines and will further define the country’s competitive edge in the global market,” he added, “the pace of its economic development, and the quality of life of our citizens.”
In comments not printed in the English-language Kremlin readout, published by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), Putin emphasized the importance of working with “foreign partners, including Americans” on rare-earth mining.
“We would work with pleasure with any foreign partners including with Americans,” Putin reportedly said. “We are also ready to attract foreign partners to our so-called new territories — our historic territories that have gone back to being part of Russia.”
The “historic territories” in question are regions of eastern Ukraine that Putin has pried out of Kyiv’s control by force: the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the two territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Putin also colonized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in an invasion in 2014 that ended with “annexation.”
“There are also certain reserves there. We are ready to work with our partners, including Americans, in our new regions too,” Putin said of the occupied regions.
The Russian leader implied that Moscow and Washington were already in early discussions on the matter.
Putin’s top spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Tuesday that Russia has domestic plans to extract rare-earth metals, but it would welcome American help.
“The Americans need rare earth metals. We have a lot of them,” Peskov explained. “We have our own plans to develop strategic resources, but there are quite broad prospects for cooperation here,” he told reporters.
Putin’s foray into the pursuit of American cooperation in this sector followed an announcement on Monday by Ukrainian Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna that Kyiv was in the “final stages” of a deal on rare-earth development with the Trump administration.
“Ukrainian and U.S. teams are in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement,” she wrote in a statement on social media. “The negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalized. We are committed to completing this swiftly to proceed with its signature.”
Stefanishyna’s comments followed some doubt on the agreement caused by hesitant comments Zelensky made in the past week.
“If this is necessary and we have no other choice, we must go for it. But my question is — when the US sells weapons to Israel, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, they make 100% profit,” Zelensky said on Sunday. “I want a dialogue with Trump. I want a dialogue. I am not signing something that ten generations of Ukrainians will have to repay.”
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Trump has been vocal about seeking some benefit to the American people out of cooperation with Ukraine independent of limiting the threat of Russian aggression.
“We’re telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earths. We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Trump told reporters in early February. “We want a guarantee. We’re handing them money, hand over fist.”
“I want to have security of rare earths. We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earths. And I want security of the rare earths, and they’re willing to do it,” he added.
Reports indicated that Trump had initially demanded $500 billion in rare-earth minerals from Zelensky, who was allegedly “not ready” to sign off that much of the country’s natural resources. It is unclear at press time how much money the final version of the agreement is worth.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he believed that the deal was “very close” and Zelensky could fly into Washington as early as “this week” to sign it.
“I will be meeting with President Zelensky. In fact, he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement,” he asserted.
The Ukraine-U.S. rare-earth agreement has received international support from some of the world’s most staunch opponents of the Putin regime. Visiting the White House on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he “welcomed” the deal and hoped for a rapid end to the Russian invasion.
“First of all, I welcome your decision to meet with President Zelensky and finalize this important agreement for the United States and Ukraine on critical minerals and rare earth elements,” Macron told Trump during the public part of their bilateral meeting.
“The agreement that you are going to sign with Ukraine and the very clear discussion we had on this, in my opinion, are reliable guarantees that we understand each other,” Macron said, “and that our will is the same. Peace as soon as possible, a lasting and durable peace for all and reconstruction.”
On the other hand, such an agreement could significantly limit China’s business prospects in Ukraine. Ukraine is a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global debt-trap scheme in which China offers predatory loans to poor countries. Zelensky has in the past suggested that “Chinese businesses” could play a major role in reconstruction the war-torn parts of his country, a lucrative effort for Beijing that would be complicated by a significant American business presence in Ukraine.
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