Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated Moscow’s readiness for negotiations and compromises on Ukraine but accused Kyiv of “rejecting any dialogue.”
Speaking during his annual end-of-year conference on Thursday, Dec. 19, Putin stated, “Politics is the art of compromise. We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromise.”
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The traditional annual question and answer sessions, often lasting hours, are largely a televised show while also being a rare occasion in which he is, theoretically, put on the spot and answers some uncomfortable questions.
Answering a question about the future of war and its potential resolution, Putin slammed Kyiv for refusing to engage.
“The opposing side refused these negotiations. Compromises are always the result of dialogue,” while referencing the failure of the previous 2022 talks in Istanbul.
In October, Putin reiterated Russia’s openness to “reasonable compromise” but at the same time rejected the idea of concessions or exchanges.
He insisted the outcome of the war must “favor Russia and reflect battlefield realities.” The Kremlin has since declared there are no current prerequisites for negotiations with Kyiv.
Earlier this year, Putin outlined conditions for peace talks, demanding that Ukraine should withdraw from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Kyiv should renounce its aspiration to join NATO, and the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia.
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Ukraine has ruled out compromiseover the territories under Russian control and dismissed peace talks as impossible at this time, citing fundamentally irreconcilable positions taken by the two sides.
Istanbul talks
After the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations held several rounds of talks, in Belarus and in Istanbul. The head of the Russian negotiators, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, stated at the time that “progress had been made,”with Kyiv offering Ukraine’s neutral status in exchange for security guarantees.
However, negotiations were suspended soon after Russian forces withdrew from Kyiv at the beginning of April 2022, exposing atrocities including the Bucha massacres. On April 12, Putin declared the talks had “turned into a dead end.”
David Arahamiya, leader of Ukraine’s “Servant of the People” party and head of its delegation during early negotiations with Russia, later confirmed that Moscow proposed ending the war in spring 2022 if Ukraine abandoned NATO aspirations and adopted a formal neutral stance.
Ukraine rejected the proposal, citing constitutional constraints, as NATO membership is a stated national goal. Arahamiya also emphasized mistrust of Russia, stating, “There is no, and there was no, trust in the Russians,” and stressing the need for enforceable security guarantees.
Without such guarantees, signing the agreement would have left Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks.
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