Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declared that although his nation is willing to engage in talks with Ukraine, it will never accept “any schemes that have nothing to do with reality.”
Putin said this while making fun of the planned round of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Switzerland and threatening to withhold support from Moscow for any imposed proposals that disregard its interests.
The goal of the high-level international conference that Switzerland’s government had declared it would host in June is to assist in paving the way for peace in Ukraine.
However, Putin stated that Russia is essential to any peace process.
In a Moscow conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, Putin stated: “They aren’t inviting us there.”
“Moreover, they think there is nothing for us to do there, but at the same time they say that’s it’s impossible to decide anything without us. It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.”
