Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (Photo: Reuters).
"President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that achieving our goals (in the conflict with Ukraine) is our top priority. We want to do it through political and diplomatic means. We are ready for negotiations," Peskov said on December 5, speaking about the prospect of peace talks with Kiev.
Russia has repeatedly stated its readiness to negotiate an end to the conflict with Ukraine based on the actual situation, but believes Kiev lacks goodwill.
The Kremlin spokesman blamed Ukraine for derailing peace talks with Russia last spring when the conflict first broke out. "The Ukrainian authorities themselves admitted that they did it at the request of the UK," he said.
Late last month, in an interview with the media, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People Party of Ukraine and head of Ukraine's negotiating delegation with Russia, admitted that Russia was ready to stop fighting on the condition that Ukraine remained neutral, but Kiev did not trust him, while the West advised them to continue the conflict.
When talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul (Turkey) in March 2022, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kiev and urged Ukraine to continue fighting and not sign any agreements with Moscow.
In May 2022, Ukrainian media also revealed that Mr. Johnson had broken off the Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul. However, Mr. Johnson himself, as well as Western governments, have never admitted to pressuring Ukraine to cancel the draft agreement with Russia.
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Since the early days of the conflict, the two sides have been negotiating to end the fighting. The two sides were said to be close to reaching a peace agreement at a round of talks held in Türkiye in March last year.
Head of Russia's peace negotiation team Vladimir Medinsky revealed that Ukraine could have ended the conflict in April 2022 by recognizing the independence of Donbass (Eastern Ukraine) and the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.
“Among our non-negotiable demands are the recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the recognition of the independence of the Donbass republics,” Medinsky said on November 28. The official added that Russia has a long list of humanitarian demands related to the protection of the Russian-speaking population in the Donbass region.
"However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chose to engage in war on the advice of the West," Mr. Medinsky stressed.
On the Ukrainian side, officials have repeatedly stated that Ukraine will never make territorial concessions in exchange for peace and Kiev will only accept neutrality when it has security guarantees from Russia and the West.
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