June 14, 2024, 14:16 +03
Updated 46 minutes ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia could immediately begin peace talks with Ukraine if preconditions were met, a move the Kiev regime called “nonsense.”
Putin, in a statement at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said talks could be held if Ukrainian forces fully withdraw from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions and if Ukraine commits not to joining NATO.
Putin said Russia could immediately stop the offensive if preconditions were met and the safe withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the front line would be guaranteed.
Mykhailo Podolyakh, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, argued that Putin’s comments were not a serious commitment to peace and said it was impossible to “find a middle ground” on the terms Putin had set out.
Podoljak told Reuters the conditions announced by Putin had nothing to do with the negotiations.
Zelensky’s advisers explained that it was impossible to find a compromise between the Russian leader’s rhetoric and the conditions for ending the war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying, “It is nonsense for President Putin to portray himself as an ambassador for peace and offer options for ending the war he started.”
“President Putin’s ultimatums have been issued by the Russian side before and there is nothing new in this latest statement,” the ministry said in a statement.
President Putin’s conditions have resonated with the international community.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin argued that Russian leaders were not in a position to dictate the terms of peace.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also said the proposal was not in good faith.
Russia has annexed Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, but does not currently fully occupy any of them.
Recently, other reports appeared in Western media claiming that Putin is ready to end the war in Ukraine.
Reuters reported in February that Putin’s ceasefire proposal had been rejected by the United States.
In May, the network reported, citing senior Russian sources, that Putin was ready to end the war based on the progress made so far on the Ukrainian front.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would never accept Russian control over Ukrainian territory.
Putin said a meeting with the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament was possible as Zelenskiy’s term ends in May.
Putin responds to G7 agreement to freeze Russian assets: ‘Theft is theft’
As expected, the Russia-Ukraine war was one of the main topics on the agenda at the G7 summit in Italy.
G7 leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan, secured by profits from frozen Russian assets.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the value of Russian assets frozen by EU and G7 countries approached $325 billion.
The assets also generate interest of about $3 billion per year.
The G7 countries planned to use the $3 billion to pay annual interest on $50 billion in loans received for Ukraine from international markets.
Putin made threatening references to the issue in a speech on Friday.
The Russian leader said Western leaders were trying to find “some legal basis” for freezing the assets, adding that “despite all the subterfuge, theft is theft and it will not go unpunished.”
Putin claimed Moscow’s treatment was proof that “everyone” could face asset freezes in future.
A 10-year bilateral security agreement between Ukraine and the United States was also signed at the summit.
The agreement calls for the United States to provide military and training assistance to Ukraine, but the United States has not committed to sending troops to fight for its ally.
The G7 group of nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States – has been one of Ukraine’s key financial and military backers in its fight against Russian forces.
