First the idea of a cease-fire on current borderswith Dmitry Peskov which confirms the opening of Vladimir Putin to a truce, then the same spokesperson of the Kremlin he denies that there is such a proposal on the president’s table and that the basis from which to start are the agreements Istanbul of March 2022. It was a day of indiscretions, answers and denials that characterized diplomacy at work to try to reach a truce in the Ukrainian conflict.
The news came with the indiscretion launched by the American agency which, after interviewing five sources and obtaining confirmation from four of them, wrote that the Russian leader expressed “frustration” to a small group of advisors for what it sees as Western-backed attempts to hinder negotiations and for the decision of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to exclude interviews. Words that seemed to confirm the position taken just a week earlier by the Russian president during his visit to China, during which he said he was willing to discuss the truce in Ukraine on the basis of the draft agreement drawn up a Istanbul in March 2022. A deal, he later argued, that was pretty much done and then sabotaged from Western interference in Ukrainian plans. Peskov himself, in response to a request for comment from the American media, had stated that the head of the Kremlin has repeatedly made it clear that Russia is open to dialogue to achieve its objectives, stating that the country does not want “an eternal war”.
The news had gone around the world, also garnering the first reactions in Europe. The most important is that of the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholzwho responded with a firm ‘no’: “This war can only end when Russia understands that it must withdraw his troops“. European sources then made it known that in Brussels it was not believed that Putin was “ready for peace”.
On Friday evening, then, Moscow’s partial denial: spokesman Peskov denied that President Vladimir Putin is ready for a ceasefire in Ukraine on the current front line. The hypothesis of a truce is not denied, as the Federation clarifies, but it certainly cannot take place taking into account the current borders along the war front: “Negotiations for the end of the conflict in Ukraine are only possible on the basis of a draft agreement outlined between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul in March 2022, a month after the start of hostilities,” Putin himself specified.
Exactly one week away, with its military conquering villages every day and getting ever closer to Kharkivthe second largest Ukrainian city, the head of the Kremlin he thus reiterated his message. “Putin can fight for as long as necessary, but he is also ready for a ceasefire, however freeze the war“, said one of the people heard from Reuters. On the other hand, Scholz had replied that Moscow must withdraw all its troops and that “the peace conference in Switzerland (in which Russia will not take part, ed) is a piece that adds to many previously created. For me it is important that young plants are watered”, she added, underlining that “this conference must be used to talk about important issues” such as “the fact that they should not be used atomic weapons and the question of wheat exports”.
The slowdowns in Brussels highlight the embarrassment over the timing chosen by Putin. Zelensky continues to call for the sending of new weaponswhile the Ukrainian military and intelligence leaders no longer hide the risk of a heavy collapse of the front, resulting in the Russians advancing deep to the west. But in Europe there is a war underway that the executives consider more important: that of elections. After having reiterated for over two years the need to unconditionally support Kiev, that the efforts made by governments in sending armaments and funds for humanitarian assistance would have led Ukraine to victorythat the only possible peace was a “just peace for Ukraine“, meaning the resumption of full control over all occupied territories, including the Crimeaadmit the mistake, the failed vision and the need to sit at the peace table would have a devastating impact on the vote.
It is no coincidence, therefore, if the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbanthe European leader closest to the Kremlin, declared just on Friday morning that the EU is preparing for war and not for peace: “A Brussels it’s at Washingtonbut more in Brussels than in Washington, a sort of ‘feeling’ preparation is underway for one world War. We can safely say that preparations are underway for Europe’s entry into the war, this is happening in the media and in the statements of politicians,” he said in an interview. According to Orban, it is unlikely that Russia will take the risk of attacking a NATO country and talk about “Russian threat” is a maneuver by the West to prepare for entry into war. According to the Hungarian prime minister, working groups at NATO headquarters in Brussels are studying how the Alliance can take part in the conflict in Ukraine.
