Revealing President Putin's ceasefire proposal in Ukraine 0
(Dan Tri) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine was rejected by the US after a meeting between intermediaries, according to Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: Getty).
Reuters quoted three Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions as saying that in 2023, President Putin sent signals to Washington publicly and privately through intermediaries, including through his opponents.
Mr. Putin proposed freezing the conflict at its current level and was not willing to cede any Ukrainian territory that Russia controlled.
However, a senior Russian source with knowledge of the discussions in late 2023 and early 2024 said that `contacts with the US side did not yield results`.
A second Russian source said the US side told Moscow, through intermediaries, that it would not discuss a possible ceasefire without Ukraine’s participation.
`Everything is falling apart on the US side,` said a third source with knowledge of the discussions.
According to the above source, the US side does not want to put pressure on Ukraine.
The incident occurred when US President Joe Biden for many months has pushed Congress to approve more aid to Ukraine, but faced opposition from members of the Republican party.
A US official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, said that the US had not engaged in any `behind the scenes` discussions with Russia and that Washington had been consistent in not having discussions behind Ukraine’s back.
According to US officials, there appear to have been informal `Channel II` exchanges between non-government Russians, but the US side did not participate in these exchanges.
US officials said President Putin’s proposal does not change from the previous request that Russia retain control of territories in Ukraine.
According to three Russian sources, the intermediaries met in Türkiye at the end of 2023.
A fourth diplomatic source said there had been unofficial contacts between Russia and the US through intermediaries at Russia’s initiative, but apparently without any results.
Three Russian sources confirmed that President Putin’s ceasefire signal was transmitted to Washington, where top US officials including White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Director of the National Intelligence Service,
One of the Russian sources said the idea is for White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to talk to President Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, and outline next steps.
However, in the January call, Mr. Sullivan told Mr. Ushakov that Washington was willing to talk about other aspects of the Russia-US relationship, but would not talk about a ceasefire without Ukraine’s participation.
One of the Russian sources expressed disappointment at the US’s insistence that it would not push Ukraine toward negotiations because Washington was helping aid Kiev.
Another Russian source said that the US does not seem to believe that President Putin is `sincere`.
`Americans do not believe that Mr. Putin is sincere about the ceasefire, but he is willing to discuss a ceasefire. Even so, Mr. Putin is also willing to fight as long as necessary and Russia can fight to
According to Russian sources, the Kremlin sees no benefit in further contact with the US on this issue, so the fight will continue.
In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson early last week, President Putin said Russia always supports a negotiated and diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine, the important thing is that Kiev and its Western partners accept it.
`Mr. Putin wants to end this war. He will not be more open to negotiations if this war lasts longer,` American journalist Tucker Carlson Carlson said at a conference in Dubai on February 12.
The Kremlin owner said that Ukraine `made a mistake` and `missed the opportunity to end the conflict.
President Putin signaled that Russia is ready to return to the negotiation format as in Türkiye, meaning that Ukraine must meet conditions such as ensuring military non-alignment, limiting the size of the army, accepting Crimea and Donbass are part of Russia.
In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin published on February 11, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if Russia and Ukraine really return to negotiations, the exchanges will no longer be the same as previous negotiations.
`If we had started similar negotiations, there would now be a completely different reality. And this new reality, no matter how painful it is for the Kiev authorities, must be recognized,` the spokesperson said.
Mr. Peskov did not say specifically, but RT said he seemed to be referring to Russia’s announcement to annex four Ukrainian provinces, Zaporozhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk, by the end of 2022.
