Kremlin denies report that Putin reaching out to US, might drop key demands on Ukraine

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Friday denied a Bloomberg report that President Vladimir Putin was “putting out feelers” to the United States for possible talks on ending the war in Ukraine and might consider dropping key demands on Ukraine’s security status.

The Bloomberg report said Putin was “testing the waters” on whether Washington was ready to engage in talks, and had reached out to the United States via indirect channels.

It cited two people close to the Kremlin as saying Putin “may be willing to consider dropping an insistence on neutral status for Ukraine and even ultimately abandon opposition to eventual NATO membership – the threat of which has been a central Russian justification for the invasion”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters about the story, and specifically whether Moscow was really ready to give up its demands on neutrality and NATO.

“No, this is a wrong report. It absolutely does not correspond to reality,” Peskov said.