By Peter McLaren-Kennedy • Published: 03 Dec 2022 • 8:57
Image of Vladimir Putin. Credit: Evgenii Sribnyi/Shutterstock.com
The response on Saturday, December 3 follows the offer earlier in the week from President Joe Biden who said he was willing to talk to Putin in an effort to bring peace in the region.
Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said that Putin was open to negotiations so long as they help to secure Russian interests in the region. He added that Biden’s demand that Russia withdraw from the region made talks unlikely.
“The U.S. still doesn’t recognise new territories of the Russian Federation.
“That complicates the search for grounds on which to hold mutual discussion.”
Those regions that Peskov refers to have been annexed and are according to the United Nations an illegal occupation of Ukraine territory, with sham elections held to force Ukrainians in these areas to accept Russian rule.
The rejection follows a strong defence by Putin of Russian actions in the region during a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Kremlin notes from the call show that Putin said the West is pursuing “destructive” policies in Ukraine through its financial and military support.
That he claimed is what “leads to the fact that Kyiv has dismissed the idea of any negotiations.”
He also defended the attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure saying that this was the logical response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure including the bridge that links Russia with the annexed Crimea peninsula.
Putin also said that he rejected the West’s view that Russia was trying to use the winter to get Ukrainian citizens to give up saying: “Russian Armed Forces had long refrained from precision missile strikes against certain targets on the territory of Ukraine.
“But now such measures have become a forced and inevitable response to Kyiv’s provocative attacks on Russia’s civilian infrastructure.”.
Analysts and more recently former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said you cannot negotiate with Putin, who has now turned down talks with Biden citing the need to secure Russian interests.
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Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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