- Putin open to talks on Ukraine
- Russia will not pull out of Ukraine
- Kremlin strikes a dovish tone
- Biden says prepared to speak to Putin with conditions
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin is open to talks on a possible settlement to the conflict in Ukraine and believes in a diplomatic solution, the Kremlin said on Friday after Joe Biden suggested he was prepared to speak to the Russian leader.
Biden, speaking beside French President Emmanuel Macron, said the only way to end the war in Ukraine was for Putin to pull troops out and that if Putin was looking to end the conflict then Biden would be prepared to speak to him.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov struck a dovish tone when asked about Biden’s remarks, saying that Putin remained open to negotiations but that Russia would not pull out of Ukraine.
“The president of the Russian Federation has always been, is and remains open to negotiations in order to ensure our interests,” Peskov told reporters.
Putin has said he has no regrets about launching what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine, casting it as a watershed moment when Russia finally stood up to arrogant Western hegemony after decades of humiliation in the years since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. Ukraine says it will fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory.
TALKS?
Speaking at the White House, Biden said that he and Macron had agreed they would work together to hold Putin accountable for what he cast as a “barbaric” war – and that the idea of Putin ever defeating Ukraine was beyond comprehension.
Biden, who in March said Putin could not remain in power, said the Kremlin chief had miscalculated by invading Ukraine but that if he was serious about getting out of Ukraine then he would be willing to sit down with Putin after consultation with NATO allies.
Russia has claimed about a fifth of Ukraine’s post-Soviet territory, annexations the West and Ukraine say they will never accept.
Peskov said that the refusal of the United States to recognise “the new territories” as Russian was hindering a search for any potential compromise.
“This significantly complicates the search for mutual ground for discussions,” Peskov said.
Asked if the way Biden was framing potential contacts meant that negotiations were impossible from a Russian perspective, Peskov said: “In essence, that’s what Biden said. He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine.”
The Kremlin, Peskov said, could not accept that – and the Russian military operation would continue in Ukraine.
“But at the same time – it is very important to give this in conjunction – President Putin has been, is and remains open for contacts, for negotiations. Of course, the most preferable way to achieve our interests is through peaceful, diplomatic means.”
The conflict has left tens of thousands of soldiers dead on both sides and triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
In Other Developments
FIGHTING
* Ukraine’s armed forces have lost somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 soldiers so far in the war against Russia, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told a Ukrainian television network.
* Russia’s Defence Ministry and the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration said the two countries had swapped 50 service personnel in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides.
* Russian rockets pounded neighbourhoods in Kherson knocking out power in the city where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops left.
* Ukraine’s armed forces reported heavy shelling of a number of eastern frontline villages near the city of Bakhmut.
* Ukraine’s military said it had found fragments of Russian-fired nuclear-capable missiles with dud warheads in western Ukraine, and that their apparent purpose was to distract air defences.
* Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko told residents to stock up on water, food and warm clothes in the event of a total blackout caused by Russian strikes.
DIPLOMACY, FOREIGN RESPONSE
* Joe Biden used the first state visit of his presidency to demonstrate unity with France’s Emmanuel Macron on Ukraine, show willingness to speak to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and assuage European anger over U.S. subsidies.
* The Group of Seven nations are “very, very close” to agreement on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, a senior G7 coalition official said Thursday.
* Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure have increased the cost to keep Ukraine’s economy going next year, adding up to $1 billion a month to previous estimates of $3-$4 billion, the head of the International Monetary Fund told the Reuters NEXT conference.
NUCLEAR
* The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the end of the year, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog was quoted as saying.
