Russian President Vladimir Putin told UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, April 26, that he still trusts the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Despite the fact that the Russian military operation in Ukraine is developing, we continue to have hopes in the ability to reach agreements through diplomatic channels. We are negotiating, we do not refuse to negotiate”, Putin told Guterres, in comments broadcast on television during the UN chief’s visit to Moscow.
Sitting across from Guterres at a long table, Putin said the talks had been derailed by accusations of Russian atrocities in the town of Bucha, near kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. “There was a provocation in Bucha, with which the Russian army had nothing to do. We know who organized that provocation, through what means, and who were the people who carried it out,” he added.
Guterres reiterated his call for the opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from combat zones, made shortly before to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Despite the Russian president’s message to the UN, the United States does not believe Putin’s words. The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, stated that Putin “is not serious” in the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite international efforts. “We haven’t seen any signs that President Putin is serious regarding the negotiations,” Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Our purpose is to make sure that Ukraine has in its hands the ability to repel Russian aggression and, in fact, strengthen its position at an eventual negotiating table” to end the war, Blinken said.
Blinken was responding to a question from Senator Rand Paul, a Republican critic of US interventionism who accused President Joe Biden of contributing to Putin’s decision to invade the country by proclaiming “Ukrainian entry into NATO.”
The head of US diplomacy replied that, in the negotiations with Russia before the invasion of February 24it became clear that Putin’s criticism of Ukraine’s entry into the transatlantic alliance was a pretext.
“We have tried to seriously discuss (with the Russians) these issues,” Blinken said. “It was very clear, in President Putin’s own words, that he was never concerned with Ukraine potentially being part of NATO, but that he always believed that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign and independent country.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres traveled to Moscow and kyiv, and on Tuesday Putin discussed the war with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, April 25, that Moscow supports peace negotiations with Ukraine, but also warned of the danger of a Third World War.
With information from AFP
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