Photo: MIKHAIL METZEL / AFP / Getty Images
The President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to talk and reach a diplomatic agreement that contributes to a possible solution to the conflict in Ukraine , the Kremlin pointed out on Friday after US President Joe Biden suggested he was prepared to speak with the Russian leader.
Biden, during a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, He said that the only way to end the war in Ukraine was for Putin to withdraw the troops and that if he wanted to end the conflict, then Biden would be prepared to talk to the head of the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov struck a dovish tone when asked about Biden’s comments, saying Putin remained open to negotiations, but that Russia would not withdraw from Ukraine.
“The President of the Russian Federation has always been, is and remains open to negotiations to guarantee our interests”, Peskov told the journalists.
Putin has said that he does not regret launching what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine, calling it a turning point in which his country finally stood up to arrogant Western hegemony after decades of humiliation in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 .
Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they present as an imperial-style war of occupation. Ukraine has signaled that it will fight until the last Russian soldier is expelled from its territory. , annexations the West and Ukraine say they would ever accept.
Peskov said the US refusal to recognize “the new territories” as Russian he was getting in the way of finding any potential compromise.
Peskov said: “In essence, that’s what Biden said. He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine.”
The Kremlin, Peskov said, could not accept that, and the Russian military operation would continue in Ukraine.
“But at the same time, it is very important to give this together, President Putin has been, is and continues to be open to contacts, to negotiations. Of course, the most preferable way to achieve our interests is through peaceful and diplomatic means”.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of soldiers killed on both sides and triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1991.