Just days away from the peace summit on Ukraine to take place in Switzerland, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was willing to start negotiations with Ukraine-but only after Ukrainian troops are totally withdrawn from the Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
According to RT, Putin addressed this to the country's top Foreign Ministry officials, saying that "As soon as Kiev declares that it is ready for such a decision and begins a real withdrawal of troops... and also officially announces that it has abandoned plans to join NATO, our side will immediately... receive an order to cease fire and begin negotiations."
If the West and Kiev refuse responsibility for further violence and bloodshed, political and moral responsibility will be entirely theirs," claimed Putin, warning that the situation on the ground will not favor the Kiev regime and may change further conditions for a negotiated solution.
The Russian position, Putin explained, is not a temporary truce, but the long-term advertisements based on the assumption of the neutral state by Ukraine, refusal of the nuclear plans and commitment to the demilitarization and denazification within the boundaries already agreed in 2022. Moreover, Putin said that it is needed that Ukraine ensured the rights of the Russian-speaking population.
Putin put accent that such agreements should receive the status of international recognition and be followed with cancelling all western sanctions against Russia. He called the step to arrange the required February peace summit on Ukraine in Switzerland an attempt to legitimize the current leadership of Kiev despite the expired term of President Zelensky.
Speaking about the territorial issues, Putin said that at times Moscow had been ready for Kyiv to retain sovereignty over Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Regions, now part of Russia, in return for receiving the land corridor to Crimea. However, as a consequence of the results of referendums held at the end of 2022, by the will of the residents of these regions - to be part of Russia, this territory became part of Russian territory.
Putin argued it is not at all about a cultural schism but rather a backlash against the militancy of policies initiated by the West long before February 2022. He further dismissed any claims from Western powers which he labeled as efforts to ethnically divide Russia on the tail end of NATO enlargement.
Putin marked its refusal as robbery referring to Western sanctions freezing of Russian assets. He promised retaliation and branded as nonsense claims that Russia represented a threat to the countries of NATO. Such nonsense, he said, was aimed at goading an arms race as he spelled out what the real threat was: Europe's dependence on the US in military, political, and technological spheres and even in ideology.
Putin emphasized that Russia and NATO did not have a choice but to live together due to being neighbors, despite the current strain. At the same time, he called for a serious dialogue on collective security in Europe and Asia and the reduction of the military presence in both regions.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was present alongside Putin while delivering the address.
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