Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks, President Vladimir Putin has said in an interview that aired on Sunday.
Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
There is, so far, little end in sight to the war.
The Kremlin has previously said it would fight until all its aims were achieved while Kyiv said it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from its territory, including Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014.
“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin told state television Rossiya 1.
CIA Director William Burns said in an interview published this month that while most conflicts end in negotiation, the CIA’s assessment was that Russia was not yet serious about a real negotiation to end the war.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin needed to “return to reality”, adding it was Russia that did not want to negotiate.
“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
“Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility”.
For more watch Euronews’ report in the video above.