Comment: This comes right as the Americans'/Globalists' 'Ukraine peace summit' gets underway, without Russia of course, in a sprawling luxury resort in Switzerland. They can chatter all they like, but the only one in a position to dictate terms for an actual settlement of the conflict is Vladimir Putin...
© NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/GettyRussia's President Vladimir Putin meets with the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership in Moscow on June 14, 2024. Putin offered a ceasefire to Ukraine in exchange for several conditions.
During a wide-ranging speech to foreign ministry officials, Putin stated that Russia would be ready to enter talks as soon as "tomorrow" to negotiate an end to conflict in Ukraine, provided that Ukrainian troops are withdrawn from several key regions. He also demanded that Ukraine give up all plans to join NATO, saying that the "moral responsibility for the continuation of bloodshed" would be on the West if the proposal was rejected.
Putin said: "I want to emphasize, it must be from the entire territory of these regions within their administrative borders as they existed at the time of their incorporation into Ukraine.
"As soon as Kyiv says they're ready for such a decision and start the real withdrawal of forces from these regions and officially declare rejection of plans to join NATO, from our side, immediately, literally the same minute, will come an order to stop the fire and start negotiations.
"We will do it immediately. Obviously, we will guarantee the uninterrupted and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian forces."
In order for the ceasefire to go through, Kyiv would need to withdraw troops from the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, effectively giving Moscow control.
"The essence of our proposal is not some kind of temporary truce or stop of fire, as the West wants, in order to restore losses, rearm the Kiev regime, and prepare it for a new offensive.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said that he will continue to fight until all disputed regions of Ukraine have been liberated.
I repeat: we are not talking about freezing the conflict, but about its final completion. And I will say again: as soon as Kiev agrees to a similar course of events proposed today, agrees to the complete withdrawal of its troops from the DPR and LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and really begins this process, we are ready to begin negotiations w/out delaying them.
I repeat, our principled position is the following: the neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status of Ukraine, its demilitarization and denazification. Moreover, everyone generally agreed with these parameters during the Istanbul negotiation."
Ukraine has repeatedly lobbied to join NATO since before the escalation of the conflict. Putin has consistently branded the expansion of NATO, which admitted Finland into the organization in 2023, as a threat to Russian security and an escalation of tensions in the region.
Newsweek contacted Zelensky's office for comment via email.
Putin also claimed that there was never an intention of Russian forces attacking Kiev directly, and that the original motive for the advance in 2022 was to force Ukraine to agree to a peace deal.
Russian media outlet Meduza reported that Putin was seeking a ceasefire beyond a "temporary truce", and that peace negotiations would also require the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia, which have continued to damage the economy since the conflict began.
Putin said: "We would like such decisions — regarding the withdrawal of troops, non-aligned status, and starting a dialogue with Russia, on which the future existence of Ukraine depends — to be made independently in Kyiv, guided by the genuine national interests of the Ukrainian people. Not at the behest of the West. Although there are significant doubts about this.
"If Kyiv and Western capitals reject it, that is their choice, their political and moral responsibility for the continuation of bloodshed."
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