MOSCOW, June 15. President Vladimir Putin spoke about the condition for negotiations on Ukraine: Ukrainian troops must be withdrawn from all the territory of the new regions of Russia, while Kyiv must abandon its intentions to join NATO.
“»Our conditions for starting such a conversation are simple and boil down to the following… these conditions are very simple — Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the Donetsk, Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, from the entire territory of these regions,” Putin said during a meeting with the leadership of the Foreign Ministry.
As soon as Kiev expresses its readiness to agree to these conditions, and also officially notifies about the abandonment of plans to join NATO, the Russian side will immediately receive an order to cease fire and begin negotiations, the president noted.
Putin added that Russia for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, a neutral, non-aligned, nuclear-free status of Ukraine is needed.
“The essence of our proposal is not some kind of temporary truce or suspension of fire, as is the case, for example, as the West wants, in order to restore losses, rearm the Kiev regime, prepare it for a new offensive. I repeat, this is not about freezing the conflict, but about it final completion. And I will say again, as soon as Kiev agrees to a similar course of events proposed today, agrees to the complete withdrawal of its troops from the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and really begins this process, we are ready to begin negotiations without delay. them,” said the head of state.
Use the initiativeMoscow will use Vladimir Putin's new initiative on Ukraine in cooperation with China and other countries of the world majority, which also previously offered their options for resolving the Ukrainian issue, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following the meeting of the president with the leadership of the diplomatic department.
» As for the role of the Foreign Ministry, we are not going to run after anyone. Our ambassadors in the relevant capitals will convey the text of the president’s speech in detail, further explain what is meant, the background of this whole situation, and we will expect a reaction to follow,” Lavrov added.
Moscow expects that proposals for negotiations with Ukraine, voiced by Putin, will be considered in the near future, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said in turn.
Reaction of the West and Ukraine NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that he does not consider Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal on Ukraine peaceful, the alliance countries will continue to provide military support to Kyiv.
Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin expressed the opinion that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has no right to dictate” peace terms to Ukraine.
Advisor to the head of Vladimir Zelensky's office, Mikhail Podolyak, who was the first from the Ukrainian side to comment on Putin's initiative, rejected the proposals, saying that this initiative supposedly implies Kyiv's renunciation of subjectivity.
Vladimir Zelensky himself also rejected the conditions proposed by the Russian President, calling them an ultimatum.
Predictable reactionVladimir Putin was informed about the reaction of Kyiv and the West to his initiative to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, he called it predictable, the head of state’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov later said.
“» He (Putin — Ed.) said “that this is quite predictable,” the press secretary added.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, commenting on the refusal of Vladimir Zelensky’s office to the proposals of the Russian President, said that in this way Ukrainians are deprived of a real chance for peace.
“Have they already been translated into Ukrainian? Bankova has already brought both Ukraine and Ukrainians to the extreme. With such statements they want to deprive the citizens of Ukraine of a real chance for peace,” Zakharova said.