"I think that what Putin put forward is actually rather reasonable because there were referenda in these new regions, the former Ukrainian oblasts. I know Russia has been investing a great deal in rebuilding and building to take care of the people living there," Sare said. "I was surprised, I think other people were surprised that he didn't say anything about taking Odessa. So, it's clear that his proposal is not an extreme proposal."
Sare spotlighted the need for Ukraine's denazification as a reasonable request, acknowledging that it may be challenging due to the stance of certain NATO countries.
"That is more challenging since you have people in NATO apparently who don't consider the glorification of Nazism to be a major problem," she pointed out. "But I am aware that there is a group of East Germans who have just put out a letter saying that they're going to come forward now to support Putin's proposal. I saw that even Newsweek magazine finally interviewed Ambassador Antonov about this. So it may be that some people are beginning to realize that they should take it into consideration."
Commenting on the Swiss-hosted summit on Ukraine earlier this month, to which Russia was not invited, Sare called it a "complete farce."
"Because you can't have negotiations without Russia. So that was really ridiculous," she stressed.
In early June, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would declare an immediate ceasefire and engage in negotiations with Ukraine once Kiev withdrew its troops from the new Russian territories and formally renounced its intention to join NATO. Putin emphasized that Russia was demanding a neutral, non-aligned, nuclear-free status for Ukraine, along with its demilitarization and denazification.