Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects an “artificial armistice” and instead advocates for a “real peace” for Ukraine, conveyed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.
“President Putin is open to peace, real peace, serious decisions, and what he totally rejects are the stratagems to buy time and create artificial armistices,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, in his daily telephone press conference, reports EFE, according to Agerpres.
At the same time, he refused to speculate whether it will be possible to reach an agreement on the US peace plan before the end of this year, as, according to the press, US President Donald Trump demands. “I dare not talk about deadlines. This would be the most thankless task at this moment,” he commented. Peskov believed that “Trump is working sincerely towards a solution (…) and is making every effort to achieve it. And his team, too. We greatly appreciate these efforts”.
Regarding Russia’s refusal to allow Ukraine to join NATO, he emphasized that “it is one of the cornerstones” of the process, which requires “a special discussion”. The special representative of the US president for peacekeeping missions, Steve Witkoff, said this Sunday that there have been “considerable” progress in the negotiations in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, consultations that continue on Monday. After the meeting at the German Chancellery in Berlin, which lasted more than five hours, Witkoff wrote on platform X that there were “in-depth” discussions on the 20-point peace plan.
The Kremlin preemptively rejected on Sunday the changes that the Ukrainians and Europeans introduced to the peace plan initially presented by the White House. “If significant changes are made, we will have very strong objections,” said Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s international policy adviser, for Russian state television.
He added that these objections could target “many points”. “There will be clauses there that are absolutely unacceptable to us, including in regard to the territorial issue,” he explained. “The territorial issue was actively addressed in Moscow. And the Americans not only know but also understand our position. I don’t know what will come out on paper after those consultations. But it won’t be anything good,” he noted.