Moscow Ready to Negotiate with Kyiv Tomorrow, But Won’t Withdraw Troops – Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is ready to negotiate a settlement to the war as early as tomorrow, but that all interested parties need to study its peace proposals.

According to reports in the Russian news sites TASS and Ria Novosti, Putin said this at a press conference in Vietnam on Thursday, June 20.

Referring to his negotiating position, put forward a week ago on the eve of the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland to which Russia wasn’t invited, Putin said, “The proposals from our side are on the table. It does not depend on us when all the actors interested in negotiations will take what’s on the table and get down to negotiating. They can do it tomorrow, but it is up to them when they bother to do it.”

However, Putin made it clear that he had no intention of withdrawing Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine as a precursor to peace talks: “If negotiations are linked to the withdrawal of our troops, this will never happen, because the Kyiv regime does not want to give up power.”

He also noted that the West's allegedly negative reaction to his June 14 proposals “was expected.”

“Russia's proposals for resolving the conflict in Ukraine will vary depending on the situation at the front,” Putin said, adding that “Russia is ready to respond to the proposal for negotiations on Ukraine even tomorrow. It does not matter where they take place: in Minsk, Istanbul or Switzerland.”

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