Categories: World News

Putin mocks planned Ukraine conference and says Russia won’t accept any enforced peace plans


MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday mocked a scheduled round of Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, warning that Moscow will not accept any enforced plans that ignore its interests.

Switzerland’s government said Wednesday it will host a high-level international conference in June to help chart a path toward peace in Ukraine after more than two years of fighting, and expressed hope that Russia might join in the peace process someday.

Putin charged that Russia hadn’t been invited to join June’s talks, while pointing at Swiss recognition that a peace process can’t happen without Russia.

“They aren’t inviting us there,” Putin said. “Moreover, they think there is nothing for us to do there, but at the same time they say that’s it’s impossible to decide anything without us. It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.”

Russia has dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula requiring Moscow to pull back its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.

Speaking during Thursday’s meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Putin said that Russia is open for negotiations, but will never accept “any schemes that have nothing to do with reality.”

Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Putin has claimed that Russian forces have the upper hand after the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year, arguing that Ukraine and the West will “sooner or later” have to accept a settlement on Moscow’s terms.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned last week that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests into account, dismissing a planned round of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({

appId : ‘870613919693099’,

xfbml : true,
version : ‘v2.9’
});
};

(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));



Source link

Recent Posts

Sydney identifies objects that shut beaches

Australian scientists have solved a mystery which has gripped Sydney: what were the sticky dark blobs which washed up on… Read More

7 hours ago

What will Trump’s presidency mean for Israel, Palestinians and Middle East? | TV Shows

Pro-Israeli policies featured heavily in the US president-elect’s previous White House term.Donald Trump’s win is being celebrated by Israel’s government… Read More

9 hours ago

At least 40 killed in Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon | Israel attacks Lebanon News

At least 40 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in eastern Lebanon, including the main city of Baalbek,… Read More

16 hours ago

Ruling German government coalition collapses after chancellor Scholz fires finance minister – video | Olaf Scholz

Germany's ruling coalition collapsed after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, sacked his finance minister and paved the way for a snap… Read More

20 hours ago

Photos: Hurricane Rafael batters Cuba, plunging the island into a blackout | Weather

Less than a month after Hurricane Milton churned over the island of Cuba, the country has been struck by yet… Read More

23 hours ago

Scholz sets stage for German snap election in March as government collapses – POLITICO

Crisis talks in the coalition of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, the Greens and Lindner’s Free Democratic Party came to a… Read More

1 day ago

This website uses cookies.