Putin: if Ukraine wants to find compromise, anyone can negotiate

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that anyone can conduct negotiations on the settlement of the conflict from the Ukrainian side, but legitimate people should sign documents from the Ukrainian side. The Russian leader said this during a conversation with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin on January 28.

"If there is a desire to negotiate and find compromise solutions, let anyone conduct these negotiations there. But in terms of signing documents, here, of course, everything should be so that lawyers to us to confirm the legitimacy of those people who will be authorized by the Ukrainian state to sign these agreements," Putin stressed and added that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky can not sign the agreements because of the expired term of office after May 20, 2024.

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Earlier in the day, political scientist Ivan Mezyukho, in a conversation with Izvestia, expressed the opinion that US President Donald Trump would not coordinate his views on Ukraine with Zelensky because Washington has turned this country into its colony and has never considered Kiev. On the same day, the British newspaper Independent reported that Zelensky demanded that Trump include Ukraine in any negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict.

Trump, in turn, said on January 24 that an agreement on a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine had not been reached because Zelensky "decided to go to war," although the sides could have made a deal. The US leader said that the Ukrainian president had made a mistake by deciding to take part in an armed conflict against a much more powerful country.

Putin has repeatedly reminded that Russia has never given up on peace talks on Ukraine, but they should be conducted on the basis of provisions agreed upon in Istanbul, not on the basis of "ephemeral demands."

The last round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4, 2022, the Ukrainian president put into effect the decision of the country's National Security and Defense Council on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin.