Putin says Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin says West aiming to 'tear apart' Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate with all parties involved inthe war in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers had refused to engage in talks. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate with all parties involved inthe war in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers had refused to engage in talks.

Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War II and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

There is, thus far, little end in sight to the war.

The Kremlin says it will fight until all its aims are achieved while Kyiv says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from all of 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," Mr. Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview aired on December 25.

Putin says West aiming to 'tear apart' Russia

Mr. Putin also blasted the West for trying to "tear apart" Russia, in extracts from the interview to be aired on national television later.

"At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia," Mr. Putin said.

"They have always tried to 'divide and conquer'... Our goal is something else — to unite the Russian people," he said.

Mr. Putin has used the concept of "historical Russia" to argue that Ukrainians and Russians are one people — undermining Kyiv's sovereignty and justifying his 10-month offensive in Ukraine.

"We are acting in the right direction, we are protecting our national interests, the interests of our citizen, of our people," Mr. Putin said.

In his first trip outside Ukraine since the offensive began in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earned firm pledges of support from U.S. President Joe Biden, including the Pentagon's most advanced air defence system.

"Of course we will destroy it, 100 percent!" Mr. Putin said, referring to the Patriot missile battery promised to Mr. Zelenskyy.