MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday mocked a scheduled spherical of Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, warning that Moscow is not going to settle for any enforced plans that ignore its pursuits.
Switzerland’s authorities stated Wednesday it should host a high-level worldwide convention in June to assist chart a path towards peace in Ukraine after greater than two years of preventing, and expressed hope that Russia may be part of within the peace course of sometime.
Putin charged that Russia hadn’t been invited to affix June’s talks, whereas pointing at Swiss recognition {that a} peace course of cannot occur with out Russia.
“They don’t seem to be inviting us there,” Putin stated. “Furthermore, they suppose there may be nothing for us to do there, however on the similar time they are saying that is it is unimaginable to determine something with out us. It might have been humorous if it weren’t so unhappy.”
Russia has dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace components requiring Moscow to tug again its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face a global tribunal for its motion.
Talking throughout Thursday’s assembly with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Putin stated that Russia is open for negotiations, however won’t ever settle for “any schemes that don’t have anything to do with actuality.”
Putin has repeatedly stated that he despatched troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to guard Russian pursuits and forestall Ukraine from posing a significant safety risk to Russia by becoming a member of NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s army marketing campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.
Putin has claimed that Russian forces have the higher hand after the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive final yr, arguing that Ukraine and the West will “in the end” have to just accept a settlement on Moscow’s phrases.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov warned final week that potential negotiations to finish the preventing in Ukraine could possibly be profitable provided that they take Moscow’s pursuits under consideration, dismissing a deliberate spherical of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader worldwide assist for Kyiv.
