Russia says President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss any potential solution in Ukraine since he believes in diplomacy, after US President Joe Biden suggested he would be open to talks with Moscow.
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, Biden said the only path to end the war in Ukraine was the withdrawal of Russian troops. Biden said if Putin seeks to end the war, he is ready to talk with him.
In response to a question about Biden's comments, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was ready for any negotiations, but Russia will not withdraw from Ukraine. Peskov told reporters the Russian president is always ready to negotiate to ensure the interests of his country.
In his speech at the White House, Biden said he and Macron had agreed to address what is happening in Ukraine.
In March, Biden said that Putin cannot stay in power and that he made a miscalculation by attacking Ukraine.
Peskov said the US refusal to recognize the "new territories" as part of Russian territory prevented any potential compromise. “This significantly complicates the search for mutual ground for discussions.”
West’s support encouraging Kiev to reject talks: Putin
Meanwhile, the press service of the Kremlin announced on Friday that Putin had in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz emphasized that sending weapons to Ukraine is a destructive policy. The press service said Western countries, including Germany, are seeking to send military weapons to Ukraine and train their forces in line with a destructive policy.
According to the Kremlin, the government in Kiev encourages radical Ukrainian nationalists to commit more heinous crimes against civilians.
The leaders of Russia and Germany discussed various issues surrounding the situation in Ukraine on Friday.
"It was noted that the Russian Armed Forces had long refrained from precision missile strikes against certain targets on the territory of Ukraine," the Kremlin said following the telephone conversation, the first between Putin and Scholz since mid-September. “But now such measures have become a forced and inevitable response to Kyiv's provocative attacks on Russia's civilian infrastructure.”
“Attention was drawn to the destructive line of Western states, including Germany, that are pumping the Kiev regime with weapons, and are training the Ukrainian military," it added.