It is almost as if Vladimir Putin doesn’t mean it when he claims to be open to peace talks with Ukraine. Having originally said they have ‘no preconditions’ on peace talks with Ukraine, the Russians are now throwing obstacles in their way, as their bluff is called.
As one US official told me, ‘we are not at all backing away from our support for Ukraine, but it is time to start at least thinking about endgames’
After US President Joe Biden, in a joint press conference on Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron, made very vague suggestions of being ‘happy to sit down with Putin to see what he wants, has in mind,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov struck an uncompromising note in return: ‘what did President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine.’ This, he added, was a condition Russia ‘obviously’ rejects, so ‘the special military operation is continuing.
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