Putin: Russia ‘ready to negotiate’ over Ukraine

Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said, while accusing Kyiv and its western allies of “refusing” to negotiate, Qazet.az reports.

Speaking in an interview with Rossiya 1 state television, Putin said:

We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are.

He added that Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine because the west, led by the US, was trying to cleave Russia apart. He continued:

I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens.

Moscow has persistently said it is open to negotiations, but Kyiv and its allies suspect Putin’s claims are a ploy to buy time after a series of Russian defeats and retreats on the battlefield.

The Russian president said on Thursday that Moscow “will strive” for an end to the war and that this would inevitably involve “some kind of negotiations on the diplomatic track”. His comments came a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the US.