Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with scientists during a visit to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, on June 13, 2024.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday raised Moscow’s demand for peace talks with Ukraine, more than two years after the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country.
According to Google Translate telegram updates According to Russian state news agency TASS, the terms include the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops in September 2022 from the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson, which were occupied by Russia after the start of hostilities. illegally annexed within a few months.
The Kremlin’s conditions are unlikely to be warmly welcomed by Kiev, which has repeatedly said it will not cede territory to Russia.
Putin said in a meeting with leaders of the Russian Foreign Ministry that as soon as Ukraine begins “to actually withdraw its troops from these areas and officially informs us that we are abandoning our plans to join NATO, we will immediately and at the same minute order a ceasefire and start negotiations,” according to Google translate TASS comments.
He said that if Kiev agreed to such concessions, Moscow would work to ensure the “unhindered and safe withdrawal” of Ukrainian troops.
If Kiev and the West reject the peace proposal, Moscow’s subsequent demands will be different, Putin added.
CNBC has reached out to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Putin’s comments contrast sharply with the Ukrainian president’s peace plans. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point proposal in November 2022 calls for the restoration of the country’s “territorial integrity” in accordance with the United Nations Charter. He also insisted that Ukraine take back the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in February 2014 before the current war.
This breaking news story is being updated.
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