Moscow, Dec 2 (EFE).- Russia on Friday said the United States and other Western countries’ refusal to recognise territories in eastern and southern Ukraine it annexed illegally in September was hindering peace negotiations.
At a White House press conference alongside French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening, US president Joe Biden said he was willing to discuss a peace deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin, but that the Kremlin chief had not indicated a willingness to come to the negotiating table.
“I’m prepared to speak with Mr. Putin,” said Biden
“I’m prepared to speak with Mr. Putin if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet,” Biden said, adding that if Putin were to make such an approach, Biden and “his French and Nato friends” would be “happy to sit down” with the Russian president to see what he “has in mind.”
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Biden’s claim, insisting that Putin “has always been, is and remains open to negotiations in order to ensure our interests.”
“The most preferable way to achieve our interests is through peaceful, diplomatic means,” Peskov said.
He noted that Washington had made peace talks conditional on Russia’s complete withdrawal of its forces from all of Ukrainian territory, a proposal that the Kremlin has rejected.
“The special military operation continues,” he added. EFE
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