Putin’s demands are the most specific conditions he has set for a possible end to the war.Credit:AP
During a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Friday,Putin said his proposal would provide a “final resolution” to the conflict rather than “freezing it”,and stressed that the Kremlin was “ready to start negotiations without delay”.
“We will do it immediately,” the Russian leader said,adding that the proposal would restore “unity” between the two warring nations and Europe more broadly. His announcement stipulated that Ukraine effectively surrendered the Donetsk,Kherson,Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters the conditions were “absurd”.
“He is offering for Ukraine to admit defeat. He is offering for Ukraine to legally give up its territories to Russia. He is offering for Ukraine to sign away its geopolitical sovereignty,” he said.
Putin claimed to have annexed the regions despite only partly occupying them in the autumn of 2022. Fighting has raged in all four regions in recent months,with Russian forces slowly seizing the initiative after Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive last year and a six-month delay in US military assistance,allowing Moscow to make gains.
“New territorial realities must be recognised,” Putin said. “All these basic principle conditions must be set through fundamental international agreements. Naturally,this involves the cancellation of all Western sanctions against Russia.”
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He also demanded that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO,a goal enshrined in the Ukrainian constitution and confirmed by the US-led military alliance though without a concrete timeline. The Russian president also called for Kyiv to never develop nuclear weapons and to pursue its “demilitarisation” and “denazification” two vague goals Russia set out at the start of the invasion.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also rejected Putin’s offer during a press conference in Brussels,labelling the pitch as not being made in “good faith.” “It’s not for Ukraine to withdraw forces from Ukrainian territory,” he said. “It’s for Russia to withdraw their forces from occupied Ukrainian land.”
Ukraine wants to join the 32-member military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all territories.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau listen to Zelensky in Fasano,Italy,during the G7 summit.Credit:Getty Images
Putin’s demands represent the most specific conditions he has set for a possible end to the war since he ordered the full-scale invasion. He made clear he would set out a maximalist position in any peace talks and fight on indefinitely if they were not met.
“Today,we are making another specific,real peace offering. If Kyiv and Western capitals refuse it as they did before,then that’s their issue at the end of the day – their political and moral responsibility for the continued bloodshed,” Putin said.
“Obviously,the facts on the ground at the front will continue to change,not in the Kyiv regime’s favour,and the conditions to begin negotiations will be different.”