Image Credits - NY Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday, insisted Moscow has “never refused to negotiate” an end to the conflict in Ukraine but accused Kyiv of walking away from previous peace efforts at the behest of its Western allies.
Speaking to Russians exactly one year after ordering troops into Ukraine, Putin portrayed his government as being open to a diplomatic resolution through “negotiations that take into account the interests of all countries involved.” However, he claimed it was Ukraine that “unexpectedly announced the termination of negotiations” last year after preliminary talks.
“As Ukrainian officials later said, this was because their Western allies urged them to continue fighting and work together to strategically defeat Russia,” Putin told viewers, repeating the Kremlin’s longstanding claims that the U.S. and NATO are directly fueling the conflict.
The Russian leader stated Moscow wants “a comprehensive, sustainable and fair settlement of this conflict by peaceful means,” but said any future talks must address Russia’s security demands regarding NATO expansion into Eastern Europe.
Putin’s comments marked his latest attempt to cast Russia as the level-headed party in the conflict, one year after his forces launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine that has turned cities into rubble, killed tens of thousands, and drawn widespread international condemnation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Western backers have repeatedly said they will not engage in any negotiations until all Russian troops withdraw from occupied territories in Ukraine. Kyiv officials insist there is no ambiguity about why talks collapsed – it was Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukrainian cities and its forces’ atrocities that made any diplomacy impossible.
During the address, Putin offered no specific new offramp to end the fighting and gave no indication that Russia would pull back troops from the 18% of Ukraine’s territory its forces still occupy, including the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014. He also made no mention of a rumoured new mobilization of Russian men to replenish a military force depleted by over 200,000 casualties.
Instead, Putin repeated his litany of grievances about NATO’s post-Cold War expansion and unfounded claims that Ukraine was being turned into an “anti-Russian foothold” that left him no choice but to attack. Despite tens of billions of dollars in economic damage from biting sanctions, Putin insisted the “special military operation” was necessary to protect Russian speakers and prevent “genocide” – a claim widely dismissed by international observers.
While the Russian leader cast the invasion as an existential defensive move, it is Ukraine that now finds its very existence under threat. Putin’s forces have failed to capture Kyiv and their bombardment of cities like Bakhmut and Mariupol has caused some of the deadliest civilian suffering in Europe since World War II.
With no end in sight to the fighting, Putin’s remarks appeared to do little to substantiate Russia’s purported desire for a negotiated peace. Facing dwindling resources and munitions, rising casualties, and diplomatic isolation, the Russian leader may simply be trying to buy time and shift responsibility for prolonging the conflict.