Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday expressed his support for resuming peace negotiations with Ukraine, although he expressed his doubts about the legitimacy of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, whose mandate expired on May 20.
“Peace negotiations must be resumed and not through an ultimatum, but with common sense,” Putin said during a press conference in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.
Putin called on Ukraine to return to the negotiating table, although he warned that the final objective of negotiations must be “the signing of legally binding documents.”
He recalled that Ukraine already signed such a document at the end of March 2022 in Istanbul, but withdrew the signature under pressure from the West.
“Once again there is talk that we must return to negotiations. Let them return! But let them return not based on what one party wants (…), but on the current situation on the ground. We are willing,” he stated. .
Putin asked himself: “Who to negotiate with? It is not a trivial question (…) Russia is aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state (of Ukraine) has expired.”
“I believe that one of the objectives of the conference that was announced in Switzerland is for the Western community, the sponsors of the current Kiev regime, to confirm the legitimacy of the current or no longer current head of state,” he said.
When the time comes, Putin stressed that Moscow must be “completely sure” that it is talking to a “legitimate power.”
Ukraine does not believe in the offer
For his part, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmitro Kuleba, attributed this Friday the alleged willingness of the President of Russia to declare a ceasefire with the current demarcation line on the front to the fear inspired by the possibility that the Peace Summit promoted by Kiev that will take place in Switzerland next month.
“Why are Russian sources suddenly telling the media that Putin is willing to stop the war with the current lines on the battlefield? It’s simple. Putin is desperately trying to derail the June 15-16 Peace Summit in Switzerland,” Kuleba wrote on his X social network account.
Kuleba assured that “Putin has no intention at this moment to stop the aggression against Ukraine.” According to the Ukrainian minister, the Russian president fears that the Swiss summit will end with a message of “unity” from “a global majority” that forces him to “choose peace instead of war.”
“This is what the Peace Summit aspires to achieve. And that is what it fears,” Kuleba stressed.
With the summit in Switzerland, Ukraine seeks to gain the support of as many leaders as possible around the world for its so-called Peace Formula, a ten-point document that calls for, among other things, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the release of all prisoners of war and the restoration of energy and food security threatened by the Russian invasion.
“Their environment sends these false signals of their supposed readiness for a ceasefire despite the fact that Russian troops continue to brutally attack Ukraine while their missiles and drones fall on Ukrainian cities and communities,” Kuleba added.
