Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered the United States the opportunity to explore rare earth deposits such as aluminum together with Russia and on Russian soil. Putin said this on state television after a meeting with his ministers on Monday evening, writes the news agency Reuters.
- By the way, we are ready to offer it (joint projects, ed.) to our American partners - and when I say "partners", I mean not only administrative and state actors, but also companies, if they show interest in cooperation.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for Ukraine to sign an agreement that gives the US exclusive access to Ukraine's reserves of rare minerals.
- I want to emphasize that we undoubtedly have significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine, Putin added.
Putin also says in the interview that he is ready for the US to invest in minerals in Ukraine, writes the news agency AFP.
- We are also ready to attract foreign partners to our so-called new territories - our historical territories that have returned to being part of Russia, says Putin, referring to to the eastern regions of Ukraine, which Russia has occupied with its military offensive.
Monday marked three years since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The world's fifth-largest earth reserves
Russia has the world's fifth-largest earth reserves of rare metals, data from the United States Geological Survey, USGS, shows, according to Reuters.
Ahead of Russia are China, Brazil, India and Australia. Russia's reserves are estimated to be 3.8 million tons.
The rare earths are used to produce magnets that set electricity in motion in, for example, electric cars, mobile phones, missile systems and other electronic devices. Russia only extracts 2,500 tons of concentrate per year and lacks the capacity to process the ores.
Putin also said in the interview that Russian companies could supply up to two million tons of aluminum to the US market annually if it reopens Russian imports, Reuters writes.
/ritzau/
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