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Post by Admin on Dec 23, 2023 18:52:26 GMT
American media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to negotiate a ceasefire with Ukraine and is sending a signal to Western countries.
The New York Times reported on the 23rd that President Putin has conveyed his readiness to negotiate a ceasefire through unofficial diplomatic channels.
The information is said to be from Russian presidential officials and American diplomats.
Currently, President Putin's condition is to maintain the occupied territories.
It appears that the aim is to give the impression of victory to Russia by showing an attitude of not retreating.
These messages have been conveyed through diplomatic channels since September, indicating that the Russian government believes that now is a favorable time for negotiations as Western aid to Ukraine is decreasing.
On the other hand, the New York Times points out that it would be difficult for Ukraine to agree to ceasefire negotiations that would involve losing part of its territory, and that President Putin may change his mind depending on the situation on the front.
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Post by Admin on Dec 23, 2023 21:37:37 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been privately signaling that he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine, the New York Times reported Saturday, despite publicly saying he won't back down from the conflict that has been ongoing since early last year.
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and more than 18,500 injured since the war began, according to the United Nations, in addition to tens of thousands of troops.
Putin has been indicating since at least September that he is open to stopping the fighting at the current boundary lines, the Times reported, citing two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and other American and international officials.
That's far from Putin's apparent goal of overtaking Ukraine. Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 and quickly overtook large swaths of the country. But Ukrainian forces pushed back hard and successfully forced Russia to retreat from its northern regions. Since Oct. 2022, the battle lines have remained largely the same, with Russia holding parts of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.
Putin also "sent out feelers" for a cease-fire last fall, according to the Times, and communicated that he was satisfied with the territory they had taken. But sources cited by the Times also warned that it could be an attempt at "misdirection" or that Putin could change his mind if his troops regain momentum. It's also not clear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would accept the deal, as Russia still holds parts of the country.
The Russian military had been worn down by early 2023, as professional soldiers were replaced with draftees and prisoners who did not stand up well to Ukraine's forces. Only a small portion of Russians support the war effort, and Putin faced an embarrassing mutiny from mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
However, Ukraine has been unable to retake its lost territories. It's facing wavering support in the West and is competing for international attention with the war in Gaza.
Zelenskyy has been lobbying United States leaders to finalize additional aid for his country, including visiting Washington last week to meet with Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden.
Biden has requested $60 billion for Ukraine, as well as $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion for humanitarian assistance and $14 billion for the U.S. border. The package has stalled in Congress as the Republican caucus remains fractured over whether to continue to support Ukraine's fight against Russia.
The Biden administration has warned that it will soon run out of funding for Ukraine's war effort without additional funds approved by Congress. Republicans refused to vote on the supplemental funding request without significant changes to asylum and border policies.
Bipartisan negotiations in the Senate, including White House officials and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have been ongoing for weeks. The Senate hopes to reach a deal and vote on it when Congress returns early next year.
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Post by Admin on Dec 24, 2023 18:36:01 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sending signals through intermediaries since at least September that he is ready to agree to a ceasefire in the war of aggression against Ukraine, which would include freezing hostilities on the current contact line.
Source: The New York Times, as reported by European Pravda
Details: The newspaper claims to have learnt this information from two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin, as well as US and international officials.
US officials believe Putin had already made attempts to negotiate a ceasefire a year earlier, in the autumn of 2022. His previously unknown intentions emerged after Ukraine defeated the Russian forces in the northeast. At the time, Putin indicated his satisfaction with the territories that Russia had captured and was ready for a truce, the newspaper's sources noted.
However, Putin is now deploying fiery public rhetoric that Russia's goals in the war have not changed while privately indicating his desire to "declare victory and move on."
Western officials have been receiving new signals since at least September that Putin appears to be interested in a ceasefire. The messages come through several channels, including foreign governments with ties to both the United States and Russia.
"They [the Russians] say, ‘We are ready to have negotiations on a cease-fire’… They want to stay where they are on the battlefield," said one senior international official who met with Russian officials this autumn.
However, some US officials suggest that this may be a typical misleading attempt by the Kremlin and that it does not reflect Putin's genuine willingness to compromise. Former Russian officials add that Putin may well change his mind again if Russian troops gain momentum.
"He really is willing to stop at the current positions… He’s not willing to retreat one meter," said one former senior Russian official, echoing a message he believes the Kremlin is tacitly sending.
Current and former officials say Putin is considering a confluence of factors that create a favourable moment for a deal: a stalemated battlefield, the aftermath of Ukraine's failed offensive, weak support for Kyiv in the West, and the distraction from the Russo-Ukrainian war due to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Publicly, Putin has maintained his aggressive stance, claiming that he is confronting the West, which is seeking to destroy the "millennia-old Russian civilisation".
However, US officials see a shift in Putin's stance, noting that he is no longer demanding the resignation of the Zelenskyy government. They claimed that the ceasefire Putin is proposing would preserve a sovereign Ukraine with Kyiv as its capital but leave Russia in control of nearly 20% of the Ukrainian territory it has managed to occupy.
The US sources added that while Putin has signalled that he is open to such a deal, he is waiting for a more concrete proposal.
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