RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin believes that the Western rhetoric on the conflict appears to be shifting in the right direction, however, Ukraine must first end its theatrics and remove legal obstacles before peace talks between both sides can resume.
Putin made the statement at a recent press conference in China.
According to the Russian President, Ukraine must abolish a law that has declared peace talks impossible as long as Putin remains in power.
“When asked whether the prospect of some kind of peaceful settlement was possible. I said what I have said many times: if the Ukrainian side wants a real negotiation process then it needs to be done not with some theatrical gestures, but the first thing to do is cancel Decree of the President of Ukraine prohibiting negotiations,” according to Pres. Vladimir Putin, Russian Federation.
It can be noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the measure last year, and his foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, claimed that the world will never see Putin and Zelenskyy sitting at the same table.
Meanwhile, Putin claimed that Ukraine has little to show its foreign backers despite months of combat and that some Western officials are deviating from their declared goal of defeating Russia on the battlefield.
And while Putin commends such transformation, saying that it leads in the right direction, however, for him, it is not enough.
Putin then named EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as an example of a Western leader shifting his stance.
It can be remembered that Borrell visited China last week and met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
During the talks, Borrell told wang that Germany counts on China to support the Ukraine peace negotiations.
“We count on China to support Ukraine peace negotiations,” said Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief.
