Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed “direct talks” with Ukraine on Thursday (15) in Istanbul, Türkiye, seeking a ceasefire between the two countries.
Putin’s speech as European leaders and Putin’s pressure in the United States to agree to a 30 -day ceasefire, and seek to end the conflict for three years.
Putin said in a television speech on Saturday (10): “We would like to start (talks) immediately, next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul-where they were detained before they interrupted them.”
In the statement, Putin stressed that negotiations should be held “without any preconditions.”
“We are determined to start serious negotiations with Ukraine,” Putin said, adding that they aim to “eliminate the deep causes of conflict” and “achieve long -term peace in the long term.”
The proposal came a few hours after the leaders of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland said Putin to agree to the ceasefire for 30 days of Monday (12), or faced “tremendous sanctions”, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, visiting Ukraine.
The Europeans said the European demand came with the support of the United States after a joint invitation from the leaders with President Donald Trump.
Shortly after the leaders asked the ceasefire, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “resistant to any kind of pressure.”
“Europe is actually facing us very publicly,” Peskov said, adding that Putin supports the idea of a “large-scale shooting”, but “there are many questions”-with any recent proposal to be answered.
Ukraine and Russia do not maintain direct talks from the Russian invasion of the neighboring country at the beginning of 2022.
Last Sunday (4), Putin said he would speak to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on negotiations with Ukraine.
Two months ago, Ukraine says it wants to stop immediately for 30 days-a position approved by the main European allies of the Ukrainian and also by Trump.
Until now, Russia has refused to adhere to it, saying it supports the idea of a 30 -day ceasefire in principle, but it insists that there is a so -called “nuances” that must be dealt with first.
Putin also denied last Sunday that Moscow refused to dialogue with Ukraine and said that “the decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities.”
“We do not rule out that during these negotiations, there will be a possibility to reach a kind of new truce and a new ceasefire,” he said.
Putin described the proposed negotiations “a first step towards a stable and permanent peace, but not an introduction to the continued armed conflict after re -armament and the repetition of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The Russian leader often talked about the need to address what he calls the “deep causes” of the conflict – such as the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Eastern Europe.
In the publication of a public social network last Thursday (8), Trump wrote that “if the ceasefire is not respected, the United States and its partners will impose new sanctions against Russia.
Trump made the end of the war in Ukraine one of his priorities and invested the efforts made to try to persuade Putin.
A special envoy for his government, Steve Whitkov, went to Russia four times to meet Putin, and there have been many other high -level meetings between the American and Russian authorities since Trump returned to the White House in January this year.
But despite making unimaginable concessions by the West to Russia, the Trump government has failed to make Russia agree with a limited ceasefire proposal, which aims to pave the way for a permanent truce.
In April, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened that the Americans would give up negotiations if there was no progress. Now the United States joins other Western allies in Ukraine to double the pressure on Russia.
For CNN, Peskov said that Russia was “very grateful” for American mediation efforts, but added that at the same time “it is not glorified” try to pressure it.
* In cooperation with Andrew Carey, Nick Patton Walsh and Ivana Kotasova
