Russia will cease military operations in Ukraine only if the Ukrainian army withdraws from the “occupied territories,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference following his visit to Bishkek, reports The Moscow Times.
“Once Ukrainian troops leave the territories they currently occupy, the hostilities will stop. If they don’t leave, we will achieve this by armed means,” Putin stated.
Russia wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine, but “legally, this is not possible at the moment,” he continued. According to him, only the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has the authority to extend its powers under martial law, not the president.
“Signing documents with the Ukrainian leadership is pointless; they made a strategic mistake when they were afraid to hold elections,” Putin said.
At the same time, Putin believes that the results of negotiations between Ukraine and the United States in Geneva could form the basis for future peace agreements.
“As I understand it, they decided among themselves that all 28 points should be divided into four separate components. This was all passed on to us,” he said, adding that no final agreements have been reached so far.
Putin also said that in a possible treaty, Russia is ready to “put on paper” a promise not to attack Europe.
“It sounds funny to us, honestly, we never planned to, but if they want to hear it from us, well, let’s put it on record. No problem,” he stated.
Currently, there is nothing to suggest that Putin will reconsider his goals or abandon his key demands, believes political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of R.Politik.
“He feels more confident than ever regarding the battlefield situation and is convinced he can wait until Kyiv finally acknowledges that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia’s known terms. If the Americans can help advance this process—great. If not, he still knows how to act,” Stanovaya said.
Boris Bondarev, a former member of Russia’s UN mission who resigned from the Foreign Ministry shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, believes that the Kremlin will reject the revised “peace plan.” Even the original version was not fully acceptable to Putin, and the new one is even less so, Bondarev told ABC News.
According to the former diplomat, it is most likely that the new round of negotiations will fizzle out, just like previous ones, due to disagreements on key issues
