President Putin and President Zelensky
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow is open to negotiations with Ukraine, but requires that they be based on a contract reached in Istanbul in 2022 that was never finalized.
“Are we prepared to negotiate with them?” We have never refused to do so, but not based on transitory demands, but on the basis of agreements agreed upon and signed in Istanbul,” Putin stated at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
The Kremlin has consistently stated that Russia and Ukraine were close to reaching an agreement in the spring of 2022, shortly after Moscow commenced its operation in Ukraine.
“We managed to reach an agreement, that is the whole point. The signature of the head of the Ukrainian delegation who initiated this document testifies to this, which means that the Ukrainian side was generally satisfied with the agreements reached,” Putin said.
“It did not come into force only because they were given a command not to do so, because the elites of the United States, Europe some European countries wanted to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia,” Mr. Putin said.
In August, Ukraine conducted an unprecedented cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, deploying hundreds of troops and taking numerous villages.
In response, Putin stated that there would be no negotiations.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014.
The invasion, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops are occupying about 20% of Ukraine.
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