The Russian leader has not made any such proposal to the US, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / Hans Neleman
A media report suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin reached out to the US with an offer to freeze the Ukraine conflict is false, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
On Tuesday, Reuters news agency claimed that Putin had contacted Washington through intermediaries to propose “a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war.” However, according to three informed Russian sources who spoke to the agency, the US rejected the idea.
When asked by journalists on Wednesday about the report, Peskov responded: “No, this is not true.”
In his interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson last week, Putin said Russia maintains contacts with the US “through various agencies.”
According to the Russian leader, Moscow has told Washington many times that “if you really want to stop [the] fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons” to Ukraine.
In that happens, the conflict “will be over within a few weeks. That’s it. And then we can agree on some terms before you do that, stop,” he stressed.
Putin reiterated that Russia remains ready for talks with Ukraine, but in order for them to take place, President Vladimir Zelensky should at least cancel his decree that forbids him from negotiating with Moscow.
Earlier this week, Carlson said he had reached the conclusion that Putin “wants to get out” of the conflict, but that the longer the fighting continues, the less likely the Russian leader will be to compromise.
On Sunday, Peskov said that if talks between Moscow and Kiev do materialize, the Ukrainian side would have to recognize “the new reality, no matter how painful it may be” for them, apparently referring to the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year and recent gains made by Russian forces along the frontline.