Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Putin: Russia Ready to Pick Negotiators for Direct Talks With Zelensky, But He Can't Sign Peace Deal

18:39 GMT, 28 January 2025
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Ilya Tsukanov
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Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree outlawing peace negotiations with Moscow in 2022, months after the West sabotaged a ready peace treaty to pursue an all-out proxy war against Russia.
Sputnik
President Putin has expressed readiness to find negotiators to speak directly with Volodymyr Zelensky.

"If he wants to take part in negotiations, I will select such people, it's not an issue. The question is about the final signing of the documents," Putin said in a TV interview Tuesday, noting that Zelensky's legitimacy has expired, and he therefore "does not have the right to sign anything."

Under Ukrainian law, the end of the president's term means his powers are transferred to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada parliament, and in accordance with the Constitution, even martial law does not give him the right to extend his authority, Putin said.
Zelensky's powers officially ran out last spring, but he remained in office after cancelling elections, citing martial law.

"On the question of the final signing of the documents...there cannot be a single mistake or wrinkle. Everything must be polished," Putin emphasized.

Furthermore, direct talks cannot start if Zelensky does not lift his self-imposed ban, Putin said.
"If there is a desire, any legal question can be resolved. So far, we simply don't see such a desire" from the Ukrainian side, the president said.
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"Negotiations factually began immediately after the start of the Special Military Operation. Initially, we told the Ukrainian leadership at the time that the people of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics don't want to be part of Ukraine. Leave these territories, and that's it, that's where it ends. No fighting, no war," Putin said.

The Ukrainian side rejected these terms, but Russia nevertheless agreed to talks. "This was at the end of February 2022," Putin recalled.
Russia was prepared to implement the peace deal reached in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, "even though there were things [in the draft deal, ed.] which we had issues with," Putin revealed.
"Nevertheless, I agreed that we were ready to implement this document. And on March 15 or 16 we informed Kiev that we were ready to refine and sign this document. There was practically nothing to change there," he said.
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"Somewhere near the end of March [2022, ed.] we received a proposal from Kiev - the one with the signature of the head of the Ukrainian negotiations group, Mr. Arakhamia. And it was these Ukrainian proposals - I want to emphasize this, it's very important, that formed the basis of the draft peace treaty developed at Istanbul," Putin said.

The draft agreements also "had a small point proposed for consideration by the Ukrainian side on a personal meeting between the two presidents. I agreed to this," Putin added.
Russia also sent signals to Kiev's Western sponsors, including now former US president Joe Biden, Putin said, saying he had made clear that "if they had a desire...to achieve peace, the path was very simple."
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Today, Putin said, Ukraine's sovereignty is "almost nil," and without foreign sponsorship and weapons, the present conflict would "end in a month and a half or two months."
Putin also commented on Zelensky's claims that he banned negotiations after the Russian military was stopped at the gates of Kiev in early 2022, pointing out that Russian forces withdrew voluntarily as an act of good faith for the sake of the peace treaty being negotiated in Istanbul, many months before Zelensky implemented his ban in October 2022.

"For us it was clear in principle that deception was a serious risk. Russia has been deceived in a similar manner for decades: they say one thing, they do something completely different," Putin said. "Nevertheless, based on considerations of the need to prevent the bloodshed associated with a serious war, we agreed, and began to withdraw troops from Kiev at the end of March."

Subsequently, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Kiev on NATO's behest to tell Zelensky to scrap the peace plan, and Ukrainian and Western media blew up the Bucha Massacre controversy, accusing Russian forces of slaughtering unarmed Ukrainian civilians in a suburb of Kiev to justify continued fighting and Western support. Follow-up investigations revealed that the civilians killed at Bucha were murdered by Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces sent in to punish locals accused of 'collaborating' with Russian forces.
Russia's Special Operation in UkraineVladimir Putin
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