Washington, not Kiev, has final say in resolving Ukraine issue: Peskov
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Russia denies Guinea-Bissau's claim that Putin wanted to relay a message to the world regarding the resolution through the latter's president as a mediator.
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Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov (AP)
In an interview with Moscow.Kremlin.Putin TV show on Sunday, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Washington "obviously" has the ball in its court with the resolution regarding the war in Ukraine.
Peskov regarded it "impossible" to negotiate with Kiev because anything agreed upon may be canceled with a raise of a finger from overseas - taking a jab at the West for controlling and provoking the war.
This comes in light of Russia's warning that Kiev was preparing a provocation of immeasurable scale which involves detonating a "dirty bomb" on its own territory. The purpose of doing so is to get Moscow falsely blamed for using weapons of mass destruction.
"It is obvious that Washington has the deciding vote. It is impossible to talk about something, for example, with Kiev. There is a legitimate Ukrainian president in Kiev, Mr. [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. We may reach some agreements with him, but given the March experience, we see that these agreements are worthless, because they can be canceled at once after external instructions," Peskov said.
On Thursday, Peskov denied Guinea-Bissau President, Umaro Sissoco Embalo's claim, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had requested him to transmit a message to Zelensky about his readiness for peace talks. "There is no specific statement in this case, and there was no talk of it," Peskov told reporters.
In a turn of events and a mere day later, Embalo was welcomed in Ukraine by its President Volodymyr Zelensky and described his meetings as follows on Twitter: "Warm talks on strengthening relations between Ukraine and Guinea-Bissau."
However, on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that the Russian leadership, including Putin, is still prepared for discussions on Ukraine.
"The readiness of Russia, including its president, to negotiate [on Ukraine], it remains unchanged. We will always be ready to listen to what proposals our Western partners have to de-escalate tensions, so if we are approached with some realistic proposals based on the principles of equality and respect for each other's interests, aimed at finding compromises and balancing the interests of all countries, of course, we will react, as we've always had in the past," Lavrov said.
Peskov also underlined that talks between Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, could take place if Washington would waive and show willingness to comply with Moscow's concerns and go back to discussing security guarantees.
"The desire of the US to listen to our concerns," Peskov said when asked what could be a platform for such talks.
"That is actually the desire of the US to go back to the situation of December-January and ask the question: what the Russians are offering, maybe not everything suits us, but maybe we should sit down with them at the negotiating table after all? I mean the draft documents that have been passed to both Brussels and Washington," he underlined.
Putin said earlier in the month that he saw no need for talks with Biden at the moment and added that "there is no platform for any negotiations yet."
After Putin's speech at the Valdai Discussion Club, Peskov said, the US must see Russia's red lines and understand its attitude regarding the ongoing global events, including the Ukraine war.
"I am 100% sure that they [the US officials] will sit and think, read, reread and analyze this speech. At least they understand our Russian vision of life, our attitude to what is happening, and they just now see and must see at least where those red lines are, and why they appeared," he stressed.
Peskov also added that Moscow must convey the Russian stance to Washington and do that in a philosophical manner.
