Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine and its Western patrons are not ready for an equal, honest and open dialogue. The text of Putin’s interview ahead of his state visit to China to Chinese news agency Xinhua was published on the Kremlin’s website.
“They (the Ukrainian government and its Western patrons – ed.) are not ready for an equal, honest and open dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests,” Vladimir Putin said.
According to the president, Russia wants a comprehensive, sustainable and fair settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means.
“We want a comprehensive, sustainable and fair settlement of this conflict by peaceful means. And we are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but it should be a negotiation that takes into account the interests of all the countries involved in this conflict, including our interests. Together with a serious conversation about global stability, about security guarantees for the opposing side and, of course, for Russia,” the head of state added.
The Russian leader called the reliability of guarantees the main problem of negotiations on Ukraine, as the West prefers a world order not based on international law.
“And the main problem is just the reliability of any guarantees, as we are dealing with states whose ruling circles prefer a world order not based on international law, but an ‘order based on rules’, which they constantly talk about, but which no one has seen, which no one has agreed with and which, apparently, change depending on the current political conjuncture and the interests of those who invent them,” Putin said.
He recalled that Russia has never refused to negotiate on Ukraine.
“However, instead of signing a peace agreement, the Ukrainian side unexpectedly announced the termination of negotiations. As Ukrainian officials later said, also because their Western allies recommended them to continue fighting and work together with them to achieve Russia’s strategic defeat. We have never refused to negotiate,” the president stressed.
We shall remind you that earlier Vladimir Putin allowed the creation of a sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine. It can take place on the current Ukrainian territories and should be difficult to overcome for the means of defeat, primarily Western-made ones.
