Moscow issued a counterproposal to the sanctions warning posed by the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ if a 30 day ceasefire is not agreed to, as voiced in a joint statement by a number of western leaders, including Starmer and Macron, who visited Kyiv yesterday.
The Russian President expressed readiness for unconditional negotiations, starting in Turkey on Thursday May 15th, following relevant talks and coordination with his Turkish counterpart Tayip Erdogan.
‘We propose that direct negotiations are relaunched in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 15th’, Vladimir Putin said in a message to Kyiv.
It was the Ukrainians who broke off negotiations in 2022, Putin claimed, but in spite of that, we are proposing an unconditional return to these talks.
The Russian President further claimed that Kyiv has repeatedly violated previous ceasefire agreements, including a 30 day pause in attacking energy infrastructures, as well as a recent May ceasefire, during which Ukrainian forces attempted counterattacks that ‘were repelled with the Ukrainians taking heavy losses’.
He added that Russia has made notice of its proposal of a ceasefire to western countries and remains open to talks, noting that a number of European states continue to talk to his country through ultimatums. ‘However’, he further said, ‘constructive relations with Europe will finally be restored’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi had previously said he was open to direct negotiations with Russia, but not before a ceasefire.
The Putin remarks came hours following the lightning Kyiv visit by the leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland, with a strong message of additional sanctions if Moscow does not agree to the 30 day ceasefire by tomorrow, with American monitoring.
