Zelenskyy on ban on talks with Putin: In 2022, I stopped separatism in Ukraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that due to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council in October 2022 to hold direct talks with Russia, he stopped separatism in the country and "shadow" negotiations.
He said this during a joint briefing with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.
Zelenskyy explained that he then signed a decree on the National Security and Defense Council's decision to ban negotiations with Russian broadcaster Vladimir Putin, who had built "a large number of different channels" together with separatists and representatives of other countries to influence Ukraine and the political leadership.
There were many negotiation processes, many shadowy negotiation corridors. I stopped it quickly. I simply stopped separatism in our country. I forbade anyone, any political figures in Ukraine, to hold any negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin's supporters during the war. It was when their troops were here in the Kyiv region," the President said.
The Head of State noted that Putin then tried to influence Ukraine through some MPs, state institutions, and European politicians.
According to Zelenskyy, he made an "absolutely fair decision" because he is the leader of certain negotiations as president of Ukraine.
"I forbade everyone else to do so. Putin, of course, did not like this, because he had many channels. There are channels that everyone knows about, because the relevant people were arrested, and then we exchanged them for our military, and they also used other channels, even in some of our institutions, which I am not ready to talk about publicly yet," he added.
NSDC's ban on talks with Putin
On September 30, 2022, at a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided to fix "the impossibility of holding negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin."
On October 4, Volodymyr Zelenskyy put this decision into effect.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko voiced Moscow's demand that NATO cancel the 2008 Bucharest Summit decision, which provided for the possibility of Ukraine joining the Alliance.
The Kremlin said that Putin was ready to contact Donald Trump.
The day before, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said he was ready to hold talks on ending the war against Ukraine.
