Putin's push for peace?

“All armed conflicts end in negotiations”

Created: 12/22/2022, 7:03 p.m

By: Andreas Schmid

This photo released by Russia's state news agency Sputnik via AP shows Vladimir Putin during a State Council meeting in the Kremlin.

Almost ten months after the start of the Ukraine war, Russia's president indicated that he was willing to negotiate.

© Vladimir Gerdo/Pool Sputnik Kremlin via AP/dpa

Negotiations in the Ukraine war have recently stalled.

According to Putin, this is not because of Russia.

Moscow "never shied away," said the Kremlin chief.

All information in the news ticker.

• Negotiations advance

  from

  Moscow

  ?

  "Russia has never shied away".

• Selenskyj

  with

  Biden

  : US President wants to put Kiev in a good position for peace negotiations.

Moscow/Ekaterinburg – Recently, negotiations in the Ukraine war seemed to have faltered.

This week, however, war diplomacy shifted to the world stage.

Volodymyr Zelenskyj traveled to the USA, Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev to Beijing.

And Putin?

Shortly after his political alliance with Belarus ruler Alexander Lukashenko, he suddenly spoke of negotiations himself.

Negotiations advance from Moscow?

“Russia never shied away”

During a visit to Yekaterinburg, the Kremlin chief indicated a willingness to negotiate.

"All armed conflicts end in negotiations, and Russia has never backed down, unlike Ukraine," he said Thursday.

In addition, the Ukrainian leadership has excluded itself from talks.

"The sooner Kyiv realizes that talks are necessary, the better."

Kyiv recently rejected negotiations.

In contrast to Ukraine, Russia wants to negotiate the current status on the fronts and regards the conquered areas - which it has already annexed in violation of international law - as Russian territory.

However, Kyiv does not want to start negotiations until all Russian soldiers have withdrawn from Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia had already annexed in 2014.

Selenskyj with Biden: US President wants to put Kyiv in a good position for peace negotiations

Western representatives argued that Kyiv should not allow a peace treaty to be dictated to it.

US President Biden wants to give Selenskyj a free hand in deciding when peace talks should take place.

"Now is the time when we need to empower this president to make decisions about how to end the war," Biden said Wednesday at a joint news conference with the Ukrainian president.

Therefore, the unconditional military support for Kyiv is inevitable.

Washington is supporting Ukraine by supplying the Patriot anti-aircraft system.

Ukraine "can succeed on the battlefield with our help and with the help of our European allies and others," Biden said.

If Zelenskyy is ready to talk to the Russians, he will be able to succeed in the negotiations because he won on the battlefield, the US President said.

Moscow's ambassador in Washington then accused the United States of continuing a "proxy war" against Russia. 

Despite these cautious statements about negotiations, there does not seem to be an end to the Ukraine war in sight, and the fighting is continuing this week.

The Kremlin rejected a possible ceasefire for Christmas last week.

"The issue is not on the agenda," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.