Putin offers ceasefire with conditions in Ukraine

2024-06-14 16:39:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Putin offers ceasefire with conditions in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday offered a ceasefire in Ukraine and the start of talks if Kiev begins withdrawing troops from the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and abandoning plans for NATO membership.

Such an agreement seems unacceptable to Kiev, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine.

Ukraine has so far not commented on President Putin's proposal.

"We would take these steps immediately," Mr Putin said in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

These statements Mr. Putin made at a time when the leaders of the 7 most industrialized countries met in Italy and as Switzerland prepares to host many world leaders, but not from Russia, in a meeting where they will discuss the first steps towards peace in Ukraine.

Mr Putin said his proposal aims at a "final solution" to the conflict in Ukraine and not "freezing it", and stressed that the Kremlin is "ready to start negotiations without delay".

Among other things, in the conditions for the establishment of peace, the leader listed the demand that Kiev not have nuclear weapons, limit the military force and protect the interests of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.

All these should be part of "fundamental international agreements" and all Western sanctions against Russia should be lifted, Mr Putin said.

"We are calling to leave behind this tragic period of history and to restore, step by step, the unity between Russia and Ukraine and Europe in general," he said.

The comments marked a rare occasion in which Mr. Putin clearly laid out his terms for ending the war in Ukraine, but did not include any new demands. The Kremlin has previously said that Kiev should recognize Moscow's control over the territory and give up its NATO membership ambitions.

Russia does not fully control any of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022, but Mr Putin insisted on Friday that Kiev must withdraw from them completely and essentially hand over their administrative borders to Moscow.

In Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Russia still does not control the center of the region of 700,000 inhabitants, and in the neighboring Kherson region, Moscow withdrew from its largest city of the same name in November 2022./ VOA