Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a late night interview on the last day (Thurs.) of the BRICS summit hosted in Kazan, and in it he presented Russia as open to compromise in order to achieve peace with Ukraine. He was asked how he envisioned the conflict ending during the interview, the contents of which were released Friday. “Any outcome should be favorable to Russia, and I say that directly,” he said according to translation by state media.
“Russia has never refused to engage with Ukraine on various initiatives but will not compromise its interests in any negotiations,” Putin emphasized. “Moscow does not rule out compromises on its part as long as they are rational,” the Russian leader was further quoted in RT as saying.
That’s when he revealed some new information regarding efforts to jump-start talks:
Ukraine has approached Russia twice with proposals through Turkish mediation but subsequently walked back its initiatives. “When we agreed, it turned out that the Ukrainian side had already withdrawn. This happened twice,” he revealed.
He explained this episode further as follows:
“We agreed to it, and the next day [Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky] publicly announced that he will not negotiate anything,” the president said. “This is irrational behavior, which is hard to predict. No plans can be based on this foundation. So there is no sense in discussing whether we would reach an agreement and what it would be,” Putin explained.
He also warned that Russia “must conduct its special military operation with full commitment and dismiss any notions of the enemy’s fatigue.”