Sputnik International By Sputnik International
Russia wants to understand whom it can trust before engaging with partners on the Ukrainian conflict, President Vladimir Putin said during a trip to China on Friday.
“We must understand with whom and how we can engage and whom and to what degree we can trust. We are of course analyzing everything that is going on,” Putin told a press conference in Harbin.
The president pointed to China as a stakeholder that was sincerely trying to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
“We believe that China is sincere about its efforts to solve this problem. It has suggested different options and has been very flexible about it,” Putin said.
Commenting on the Swiss initiative on Ukrainian peace, the Russian president stressed that Moscow would not accept ultimatums.
“It is clear what this event is all about: bringing together as many countries as possible to claim that they have everything agreed on and then giving Russia an ultimatum,” Putin said, adding he would not have it.
Russia is keeping tabs on the preparations for the Swiss conference on Ukraine, which is due on June 15-16, the president said.
“We are of course analyzing everything happening in this regard. We are watching everything that has to do with the planned meeting in Switzerland,” he confirmed.
Putin suggested that Ukraine and its donors were trying to force Kievâs vision of a peace deal on Russia but warned that such attempts were doomed to fail.
“First they tried to deal a strategic defeat but failed. Any attempt to force [Russiaâs] hand will have the same result,” the president warned.
Russia will accept an invitation to peace negotiations as agreed in Istanbul in 2022, Putin said.
“We have a framework for negotiating process, which is what we agreed on in Istanbul ⊠The head of the Ukrainian delegation signed up to that long document. He initialed it. We have a document with his signature on it,” the president said.
The Russian president again accused the regime in Kiev of usurping power illegally and allowing a simmering conflict in Donbas to boil over.
“They allowed a coup to happen with the support of Western sponsors. They organized it and created conditions for a simmering conflict to become an armed one. They are to blame for this, but they are trying to ⊠hold Russia responsible for these tragic events,” he explained.
Putin said that he was in constant contact with Volodymyr Zelensky before the acute phase of the conflict.
“We communicated with him [Zelensky] before, were in constant contact before the conflict entered the acute phase of armed struggle,” Putin said…
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