The president of Russia, Vladimir Putinsaid this Friday that he could order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if kyiv began to withdraw its troops from the four regions annexed by the Kremlin in 2022 and renounced its plans to join NATO, among other conditions. “We would do it immediately,” Putin said in a speech at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
It seems impossible for kyiv to accept an agreement with these premises, since it has declared its intention to enter the military alliance and has demanded Russia’s withdrawal from all its territory. Ukraine did not immediately comment on Putin’s remarks.
His remarks coincided with a meeting of G7 leaders in Italy and as Switzerland prepared to host dozens of world leaders — though not from the Kremlin — this weekend to try to draw up a roadmap for peace in Ukraine.
Putin explained that his proposal aims to achieve a “final resolution” of the conflict, instead of “freezing” it, and stressed that the Kremlin is “ready to start negotiations without delay.”
The six demands for peace listed by the Russian leader are:
. withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Lugansk and Donetsk
. abandon intentions to join NATO
. maintain a non-nuclear status
. accept restrictions on its armed forces
. protect the interests of the Russian-speaking population
. lift all Western sanctions
“We urge you to turn this tragic page in history and begin to restore, step by step, unity between Russia and Ukraine and Europe in general,” he said.
Putin’s statements were unusual in clearly stating his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but he did not include new demands. He Kremlin He had already said before that kyiv should recognize its territorial advances and rule out joining NATO.
Russia does not have full control over any of the four provinces it illegally annexed in 2022, but Putin insisted Friday that kyiv must withdraw from them completely and essentially cede them to Moscow within its administrative borders. In Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast of the country, the Kremlin still does not control the administrative capital of the region of 700,000 inhabitants, and in neighboring Kherson it withdrew from the main city, its eponymous capital, in November 2022.
Putin said that if “kyiv and Western capitals” reject his offer, “it is their problem, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed.”
(With information from AP)
