Pavel: Russia is not interested in negotiations as long as it sees successes on battlefield
Czech President Petr Pavel does not believe that the Kremlin is serious about real negotiations to end the war, even after the likely end of the summer offensive campaign.
He said this in an interview with BBC-Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.
Pavel, who was a former general, was asked whether he believed that Russia's current offensive could be the last major assault in the war, after which Moscow would be ready to sit down at the negotiating table. However, the Czech president expressed complete scepticism about such assumptions.
"Personally, I don't believe it, I don't trust Russian arguments at all. When they say that they do not aim to completely defeat Ukraine, it is worth listening to the statements of President Putin or Sergey Lavrov to understand what they really want," Pavel said.
In his opinion, the Kremlin's real goal is to make Ukraine submit to all of Russia's demands, not to find a compromise. Pavel believes that as long as Moscow has at least some results on the battlefield, it will continue to avoid negotiations.
"The Russians believe that they can achieve much more through fighting than through negotiations. For this reason, President Putin instructs his commanders to put maximum pressure on Ukraine," he added.
