MOSCOW, Feb 18: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about negotiating a settlement to end the war in Ukraine as high-level talks began in Saudi Arabia, and that Russia would prefer to achieve all its aims peacefully.
Putin sent Russia's army into Ukraine in 2022. He has repeatedly said he is ready to discuss an end to the war that reflects the reality on the ground, where advancing Russian forces now control nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Western intelligence, European leaders and former US president Joe Biden have repeatedly asserted that they do not think Putin really wants peace, though US President Donald Trump says he does think Putin is serious.
"President Putin has been repeating his words about his readiness for peace talks from the very beginning," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"The main thing for us is to achieve our goals. And, of course, we prefer peaceful means to achieve our goals."
Peskov said there was no understanding yet about a date for a meeting between Putin and Trump, though the Riyadh talks might bring clarity. It was, he said, impossible to give any sense of the talks as they had only just begun.
Asked if Putin was willing specifically to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Peskov said Putin had repeatedly said that he was.
But he also said any agreement would have to take into account a possible challenge to Zelenskiy's legitimacy, a reference to the fact that Zelenskiy has remained in office beyond the end of his normal term because Ukraine is under martial law.
Peskov said joining the European Union was Ukraine's sovereign right if it wished to do so, but that Moscow's position was different when it came to joining military alliances.
Moscow has said one of the goals of what it calls its "special military operation" is to avert any prospect of Ukraine joining the transatlantic NATO defence alliance, which it would consider a threat to Russia's security. —REUTERS
