Top Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that strongman Vladimir Putin is “ready for talks” to end the Ukraine war with American President-elect Donald Trump.
Peskov was responding to questions about a report published by Reuters on Wednesday citing anonymous officials, claiming that Putin may be open to ending the ongoing invasion of Ukraine if Russia can keep control of much of the territory he has seized from the anonymous sources claimed that Putin “could broadly agree to freeze the conflict along the front lines.”
Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, “annexing” its Crimean peninsula. After a period of peace during the four years that Trump was in the White House, Putin again invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after outgoing President Joe Biden lifted sanctions on the lucrative Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would have dramatically increased Russian fossil fuel sales to Western Europe. In September of that year, Putin “annexed” four more regions of Ukraine: Luhansk and Donetsk, the Donbas regions; Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian government has adamantly refused to negotiate an end to the war that would result in Russia permanently maintaining control of its occupied territories. The Biden administration has not taken any concrete measures towards ending the war diplomatically, instead funneling billions of dollars in military support to Ukraine. Reports this weekend indicated that Biden approved Ukraine using the long-range American Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to bomb Russia, a potential red line for Moscow. The White House has not confirmed the reports, but both Russia and Ukraine claimed such a missile was used to bomb a target in undisputed Russian territory shortly thereafter.
The escalation has caused global alarm at the potential of the war between Russia and Ukraine expanding to include the United States and Western European allies. Russia has reportedly already recruited its ally North Korea to send troops to the battlefield, adding a new party to the conflict.
Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, indicated to reporters on Wednesday that Putin is ready to sit at a negotiating table with Trump.
“The president has repeatedly and consistently stated his readiness for contact and negotiations,” Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Tass. Tass noted that Peskov was specifically responding to the possibility of talks with Trump.
According to the Reuters report that prompted the question, five anonymous “sources with knowledge of Kremlin thinking” believed that Putin could be to debate the “precise carve-up” of the four regions he had seized from Ukraine, leaving the opportunity for Russia to agree to ultimately withdraw its troops from the country.
“Russia may also be open to withdrawing from the relatively small patches of territory it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, in the north and south of Ukraine, two of the officials said,” according to Reuters. Such a deal would still require Russia to keep most of the land it has conquered, the report continued, so that Putin can “sell” a “win” to the Russian people, who have loudly protested the invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters noted that Peskov, in a statement to the news agency, appeared hesitant to suggest that Putin would agree to a deal that maintains the status quo.
“Putin has already said that freezing the conflict will not work in any way,” Peskov said. “And the missile authorisation is a very dangerous escalation on the part of the United States.”
Peskov’s statement to Reuters preceded the reports that Biden had approved Ukraine’s ATACMS use against Russia.
On Tuesday morning, the Russian government claimed that Ukraine struck a military depot in Bryansk Oblast, an uncontested part of Russia, with ATACMS ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian government appeared to confirm the strike but not what kind of weapon was used in the attack.
“If you look at the trends of the outgoing U.S. administration, they are fully committed to continuing the war in Ukraine and are doing everything they can to do so,” Peskov declared on Wednesday.
While seemingly more open to negotiating with Trump than Biden, who has not indicated any desire to do so, the Kremlin has not been friendly or enthusiastic about his electoral victory. Peskov told reporters the day after Election Day that Putin did not have any plans to congratulate Trump.
“Let’s not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state,” the spokesman said. “It is practically impossible to make relations between the United States and Russia any worse as they are already at their lowest point in history.”
Putin ultimately did congratulate Trump and praised him for his response immediately following an assassination attempt against him in July.
“His behavior at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man,” Putin said of Trump at a public event. “He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man.”
The Kremlin denied a Washington Post report shortly thereafter that Trump and Putin had engaged in a private phone call, calling it “pure fiction.”
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