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Vladimir Putin has completed a hard line over every deal to stop the battles in Ukraine, even when he said he “supported the idea” behind a 30-day arms arrest supported by the USA.
At a press conference on Thursday, the Russian president said that a ceasefire must lead to a final settlement of the conflict that would “solve the main causes of his invasion”.
“The idea itself is correct and we support you unconditionally. But there are problems we have to discuss and I think we have to discuss them with our American colleagues and partners, ”he said.
Putin added that the Ukraine armed forces would otherwise be given the opportunity to withdraw, re -group and annoy again how the Russia’s army in the Kursk region wins the upper hand, the parts of which were captured by Kyiv last year.
The US and Ukrainian delegations approved this week in a meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss a proposal for a preliminary 30-day armistice on land, sea and in the air. The two delegations also agreed to start negotiations, “in the direction of a permanent peace that provides for the long -term security of Ukraine”.
“Does this mean that Ukraine will use these 30 days to further forced the mobilization of maintaining weapons and preparing its mobilized units?” Putin asked.
The former demands of Moscow would indeed end Ukraine’s existence as a functioning state and evenly restrict the presence of NATO east of Germany in the Russian orbit.
Putin asked Ukraine to recognize the annexation of Russia by four partially occupied southeastern regions and the Criminal pine insula, to withdraw its troops from these areas and to commit to never join NATO as a prerequisites for armistice.
Russia also urges the Ukrainian military up to upper limits, the protection of Russian speakers in the country and new elections to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It has asked for an effective rollback of NATO’s expansion since the Cold War, from which Putin forced him to organize his invasion to Ukraine in 2022.
US President Donald Trump described Putin’s comments as a “very promising statement”, but “incomplete” and added that his team had “very serious discussions” with the Russian president.
“I would like to meet with him and talk to him, but we almost have to go over,” said Trump at an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, and referred to comments in which Putin said he would probably speak to his colleague.
In an obvious reference to Territorial concessions from Kyiv, the US President added that Washington had discussed with Ukraine “country pieces that would be kept and lost” as well as energy capacity and other details.
“Many details of a final agreement have actually been discussed, and now we will see whether Russia is there or not,” said Trump. “If this is not the case, it will be a very disappointing moment for the world.”
Putin said Moscow also had concerns about how a ceasefire on the battlefield would be implemented and monitored, where he said that Russia’s armed forces “progress practically everywhere” at the almost 1,000 km long front.
“We will agree on how the conflict can end and find an acceptable agreement for everyone that is based on how the situation develops on site,” he said.
He expressed the confidence that the “breakthroughs of his forces in Kursk” and elsewhere on the front.
Elina Ribakova, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that the Russian President did not want to be held responsible for standing Trump’s business in the way, but felt no pressure to “withdraw from his maximum demands”.
She added: “You want to play a chicken game with the USA to see what (Trump) will do when Russia specifies to play the ball, and suggest a highly imposed” unconditional ceasefire “.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy in the Middle East, is about the war in Ukraine and normalizing US Russia relationships in Moscow before the expected talks with the Russian president.
Putin also suggested on Thursday that the United States and Russia was negotiated by securing gas supplies for Europe after FT reported that his close friend Matthias Warnig was a technical one Restart of Russia North Stream 2 Gaspipeline to Europe with the support of US investors.
“When the United States and Russia make an energy agreement, the gas line for Europe is safe. This will be useful for Europe because it gets cheap Russian gas, ”he said.
