Vladimir Putin ready to negotiate peace with Ukraine? Here are his conditions

Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he would negotiate with Ukraine if Ukrainian forces withdrew from the four regions he claims and if Kiev renounced joining NATO, brushing aside the peace summit in Switzerland to which Moscow was not invited.

 

"As soon as Kiev (...) begins the effective withdrawal of troops (from the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia), and notifies the abandonment of its plans to join Nato, we will immediately, this very minute, give the order to cease fire and start negotiations," Putin told Russian Foreign Ministry officials.  

  

These claims constitute a de facto demand for Ukraine's surrender, the aim of which is to maintain its territorial integrity and sovereignty.  

 

Mr. Putin proclaimed the annexation of the four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine in September 2022, in addition to the annexation of Crimea in 2014.    

 

Vladimir Putin has made it clear that Ukraine must hand over all these territories to Russia, even though Moscow only partially occupies them.