Russian President Vladimir Putin denied this Friday, December 19, that he had rejected the peace plan for Ukraine by his North American counterpart, Donald Trump, and said that “the ball” was now in the court of Kiev and the Europeans.
“This is absolutely incorrect and has no basis whatsoever,” Putin said during an annual televised press conference, cited by Spanish news agency EFE.
“The ball is completely in the court of our Western adversaries, especially the head of the Kiev regime [Volodymyr Zelensky] and its European sponsors,” said the Russian leader.
Putin recalled that he met with Trump in August, in Alaska, and that he practically accepted the proposals of the President of the United States, after emissaries from Washington requested that Moscow make “certain concessions”.
“Trump is making important efforts to put an end to the conflict. As I mentioned in the past, he does so, from my point of view, in an absolutely sincere way”, he pointed out.
Putin reaffirmed on Wednesday, the 17th, that, if diplomatic negotiations failed, Russia would recover the “historical Russian territories” in Ukraine “by military means”.
Moscow categorically rejected the possibility of deploying troops from NATO member countries in the neighboring country as a guarantee of security for Ukraine after the end of the war.
The Russian presidency confirmed that a delegation from Moscow will hold consultations with North American representatives over the weekend to discuss the outcome of negotiations in Berlin with Ukrainians and Europeans.
Putin also rejected any responsibility for the deaths caused by the war in Ukraine, launched by Russia almost four years ago, attributing it to the Ukrainian authorities.
“We don’t consider ourselves responsible for people’s deaths, because we didn’t start this war,” he said, quoted by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
Putin accused the West and Kiev of deceiving Russia under the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements on Donbass, the region in eastern Ukraine made up of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Russia annexed Donetsk and Lugansk in September 2022, along with Kherson and Zaporijia, after doing the same to Crimea in 2014.
The Minsk agreements were mediated by France and Germany, and included the participation of Ukraine, Russia, the Donbass separatists, supported by Moscow, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The agreements were never fully implemented, with mutual accusations of violations leading to collapse with the Russian invasion in 2022.
Putin became emotional when talking about Russian soldiers of different origins fighting in Ukraine and briefly interrupted a response while his lower lip was seen trembling, according to EFE.
He admitted that “the search for missing soldiers (…) is a very serious issue” and said that the Ministry of Defense had taken measures that improved the situation.