Kremlin sets condition for peace talks with Ukraine: "Root causes of ’special military operation’ must be eliminated"
The Kremlin claims that Russia is supposedly open to resuming peace talks with Ukraine and expects to hold a trilateral meeting involving the United States. At the same time, its conditions for negotiations remain unchanged.
Russian media outlets quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's statement, according to Censor.NET.
Russia's "openness"
Moscow claims that it expects dialogue in the trilateral format to continue in the "near future."
"Our conditions are well known, as are the root causes of the special military operation (this is what Russia calls its war against Ukraine – ed.). These root causes must be eliminated. No conditions are set for the negotiations themselves. We remain open to negotiations. We hope that, as we discussed with American negotiators, we will be able to convene again in a trilateral format in the foreseeable future and continue the dialogue," Peskov said.
At the same time, the Russian dictator's spokesperson said it was difficult to predict how effective such a potential meeting would be. The Kremlin justified this by claiming that Ukraine's position on the front is allegedly worsening every day.
Background
- Recall that on 8 September, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin held a phone call with US President Donald Trump. They discussed Ukraine and the results of American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's visit to Moscow and Kyiv.
- On 10 September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that there would be no truly strong negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine during the Russian State Duma election period.
- He hopes for the first results of the negotiations by the end of September and added that US representatives seek to achieve "solid steps" in talks on ending the war before winter.
