Kremlin: No time frame for Putin’s proposal on peace talks
But front situation changes

REGION  15 June 2024 - 11:42

Conditions for peace talks with Ukraine set by Russian President Vladimir Putin have no time frames but frontline conditions are changing rapidly, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"Naturally, they are open-ended," he said, when asked how long Putin’s proposals will stay in place. "But the situation on the frontline is changing dynamically and time may come when it changes in a way that it will be another worsening of the Kiev regime’s positions," he added, TASS reports.

The Kremlin spokesman noted that the Kiev regime will need time to think. According to Peskov, Putin has chosen this moment to announce his proposal in view of the conference in Switzerland. "There will be no talk about peace there. They will discuss various humanitarian and pseudo-humanitarian matters. In this context, this peace initiative fits well," he explained.

He stressed that it is important for Russia to attain its goals. "These are the goals President Putin tries to achieve while advancing various initiatives before beginning the special military operation," Peskov said, adding that Russia kept on trying to use political and diplomatic means till the very last moment. And only when all these attempts were exhausted, Russia launched combat operations, he noted.

"But, naturally, peace talks are preferable," he emphasized.

Peskov also said that Western countries will definitely examine Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiatives on the Ukrainian issue.

"They will surely consider them," Peskov told Pavel Zarubin, the host of the Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin program on Russian television. The journalist uploaded an excerpt from the program to his Telegram channel.

"What the Americans are saying, what some particularly hawkish Europeans are saying is obvious. They need to keep fighting against Russia by the hands of the Ukrainians and to the last Ukrainian," he said.

However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statements today are, in Peskov’s opinion, "a first reaction and an absolutely wrong interpretation" as "we are not talking about any ultimatums."

"We have reiterated that it is crucial for Russia to achieve the goals which were initially set out for the special military operation. Of course, to achieve preferably by political and diplomatic means. And only when they are totally rejected, then all military ways take effect. And that is why the special military operation is being carried out," the presidential press secretary concluded.

Earlier in the day, Putin put forward a new peace proposal seeking to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. The proposal envisages recognition of Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Regions as Russian regions, enshrining Ukraine’s non-aligned and non-nuclear status, its demilitarization and denazification, and lifting the sanctions on Russia.

However, Ukraine rejected the initiative, as Zelenskyy described Moscow’s proposal as an ultimatum and his adviser, Mikhail Podolyak, said that the new Russian initiatives presumably have "no real peace proposals."

Caliber.Az