On Tuesday, the 18th of February, as high-level talks began in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine and that Russia preferred to achieve all its goals peacefully. Putin sent the Russian army to Ukraine in 2022 and Russian forces currently control about 20% of Ukrainian territory, according to Reuters.
Western intelligence services, European leaders and former US President Joe Biden have repeatedly indicated that they do not believe Putin really wants peace, even though US President Donald Trump says Putin does.
“President Putin has repeated his words about readiness for peace talks from the very beginning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“THE MAIN THING FOR US IS TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS. AND, OF COURSE, WE PREFER PEACEFUL MEANS TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS.”
Peskov said there was no agreement yet on a date for a meeting between Putin and Trump, although talks in Saudi Arabia could bring clarity. He said it was impossible to give any idea of the talks as they had only just begun.
Asked whether Putin was ready to negotiate specifically with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Peskov said that Putin had repeatedly said that he was ready.
But he also said that any agreement would have to take into account a possible challenge to Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, citing the fact that Zelenskyy has remained in office beyond the end of his term because of the declaration of martial law in Ukraine.
Asked whether Ukraine might one day join the European Union, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied: “This is the sovereign right of any country.”
However, Peskov added that Russia’s position is different when it comes to Ukraine joining military alliances such as NATO.
Moscow has stated that one of the objectives of what it calls a “special military operation” is to prevent any prospect of Ukraine joining a transatlantic NATO defence alliance, which it would consider a threat to Russia’s security.