Vladimir Putin’s international minister has claimed Russia was “prepared” for peace talks earlier than Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Sergei Lavrov mentioned the probabilities of negotiating a cope with Ukraine had been “ruined and sabotaged” when Kyiv turned the tables on Moscow three weeks in the past and breached Russian borders.
In response to state information company TASS, he mentioned: “We at all times keep in mind that President Putin made the newest peace proposal in June, in spite of everything earlier initiatives and agreements have been ruined and sabotaged by the Kyiv regime and its Western backers.
“Our readiness for talks was past anybody’s doubt, though, after all, after the reckless transfer within the Kursk area, any dialogue of this topic is now not related.”
Ukraine’s forces shifted from the defence to offence on August 6 and broke by way of Russia’s borders for the primary time since World Battle 2.
It’s now occupying 1,000 sq km of Russia. That’s only a fraction in comparison with the 109,000 sq km of Ukrainian land Russia is occupying, however greater than sufficient to trigger main upset inside the Kremlin.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since mentioned that that is a part of his wider plan to strain Moscow into ending the battle.
The subsequent phases embody separate diplomatic and financial steps, though Zelenskyy has not disclosed any additional particulars in regards to the technique which he intends to place earlier than the White Home.
Moscow had fully written off this plan even earlier than Lavrov’s feedback.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed earlier this week that it’s “greater than apparent” there was no basis for peace talks proper now within the wake of the incursion.
And, regardless of ideas the Kremlin was prepared to barter, this isn’t a brand new stance for Moscow.
Putin has claimed repeatedly {that a} truce might solely be agreed to based mostly on the “realities on the bottom,” which means Russia desires to maintain the 18% of the Ukrainian land it has illegally annexed.
In the meantime, Ukraine is refusing to surrender any of its territory and needs all of it handed again, together with the Crimean peninsula which Russia annexed again in 2014.
Kyiv additionally claims that it doesn’t need to annexe the land it has taken within the Kursk, suggesting that it’s simply a part of a wider negotiating tactic.
