Putin: ready for talks with Ukraine, but on acceptable terms

MOSCOW, October 2 /ATSH-DPA/ – Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to resume peace negotiations with Ukraine, but, according to him, drone attacks during the Duma elections have made the resumption of talks more difficult.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, before an international audience, President Putin said Moscow had been ready to resume negotiations on September 21, a day after the Duma elections. According to him, Ukraine had carried out numerous drone attacks during the election period.

Putin claimed that more than 1,600 drones had been used against Moscow and that polling stations in other regions of Russia had been attacked repeatedly. The Russian president said Ukraine had been mistaken in calculating that the attacks on Russia would weaken Russian society. “The enemy had expected our society to fall apart, but anyone can be mistaken,” he said.

The Russian president declared that Russia remains ready to enter negotiations and to conclude them as soon as possible. However, he added that the talks must take place on terms that are also acceptable to the Russian Federation and the Russian people. This part of the statement is particularly important, as Putin did not specify in it what exactly the terms Moscow is demanding are.

For their part, Kyiv, its Western allies and various observers express strong doubts that Moscow is genuinely ready for negotiations. Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022.