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Vladimir Putin said Moscow did not want to abandon his maximalist requests on any agreement to stop fighting in Ukraine, even if he said he “supports the idea” behind a 30-day cease-fire supported by the United States.
The Russian President said at a press conference on Thursday that everything was to lead to final conflict settlement which “would solve the deep causes” of his invasion.
He added that the forces of Ukraine would otherwise have the possibility of withdrawing, regrouping and rearraising just like the Russian army gained the top in the Kursk region, some of which were captured by Kyiv last year.
“Does this mean that Ukraine will use these 30 days to continue forced mobilization, obtain arms supplies and prepare its mobilized units?” The Russian president said.
Putin said Moscow also had concerns about how a cease-fire would be implemented and monitored.
“We are going to suit how to end the conflict and find an acceptable agreement for everyone depending on how the situation is developing on the ground,” he said.
He expressed his confidence that the “breakthroughs of his forces in Kursk” and elsewhere on the front line would continue.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he hoped that Russia would support Washington’s proposal, adding that his team had “very serious discussions with Putin and others”.
Referring to remarks in which the Russian president said that he would probably speak to his American counterpart, Trump added: “I would love to meet him and speak to him, but we have to end with quickly.”
Speaking at the oval office at the start of a meeting with NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, Trump said: “We are talking about things that are going well in Russia.”
Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy of Trump, is in Moscow before the talks expected with the Russian president during the war in Ukraine and normalizing American-Russian relations.
The previous requests of Moscow would indeed put the end of the existence of Ukraine as a functional state and would place it squarely on the orbit of Russia while seriously limiting the presence of NATO to the east of Germany.
Putin called on Ukraine to recognize the annexation of Russia of four partially occupied regions of the Southeast and the Crimean Peninsula, to withdraw its troops from these areas and to undertake never to join NATO as a prerequisite for ceasefire.
Russia also put pressure for ceilings on Ukraine soldiers, protections for Russian speakers in the country and new elections to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He demanded an effective decline in expansion to the eastern NATO since the Cold War, which Putin said forced him to order his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Putin also suggested that the United States and Russia negotiated to obtain gas supplies for Europe, following the FT, noting that his nearby Matthias Warnig friend is restoring a restart of the North Stream 2 gas pipeline in Russia in Europe with the support of American investors.
“If the United States and Russia reach an energy agreement, the gas pipe for Europe will be secure. This will be useful for Europe because it will get a cheap Russian gas, “he said.
