The Kremlin said Saturday that talks over the war in Ukraine must first be held with the US as Russian officials continue to signal that they’re open to negotiations with Washington.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US and its Western allies have a say over what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could agree to, citing earlier failed peace talks.
“Kiev has a president, a legitimate Ukrainian president, Mr. Zelensky, and it is theoretically possible to reach any agreements with him, but, bearing in mind the March experience, these agreements mean nothing because they can be immediately canceled at the dictation from outside,” Peskov said.
“The March situation” refers to talks between Ukraine and Russia that were held in Istanbul. Following the in-person meeting, a deal seemed possible, and the two sides reportedly reached a tentative agreement. But former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson then traveled in April and told Zelensky not to negotiate with Russia.
According to a report in Ukrainian media, Johnson said even if Ukraine was ready to sign a deal, the West wasn’t, and his visit was a factor in why a Zelensky-Putin meeting didn’t happen at the time.
Also on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia was open to talks with the West and said they could be successful if Moscow’s concerns were respected. Lavrov said Russia is “always ready to listen to our Western colleagues if they make another request to organize a conversation.”
For weeks now, Russian officials have been stressing their openness to negotiations, while the US has rejected the idea of diplomacy, at least publicly. The White House said last week that there are no prospects for negotiations and that it’s up to Zelensky when they will begin, and the Ukrainian leader recently hardened his position on talks.
In response to Russia’s annexation of the territory it controls in Ukraine, Zelensky signed a decree ruling out talks with Russia while Putin is still president, essentially calling for regime change before negotiations can happen.
The lack of a diplomatic effort from the US comes after President Biden warned the risk of nuclear “armageddon” was higher today than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
On Sunday, Lavrov discussed the 1962 crisis and said a major difference between now and then is the fact that there were talks between President John F Kennedy and then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, which resolved the issue.
“Khrushchev and Kennedy found the strength to show responsibility and wisdom, and now from Washington and its satellites, we do not yet see such willingness,” Lavrov said.
Such astounding hypocrisy. Just astounding. Going back to the warrior ethos of Ancient Greece looks pretty good to me. At least the leaders had to put their lives on the line instead of yakking on about blah blah blah.
Biden is a moron. I voted for Biden. I am a moron.
You were a moron. Admitting you were wrong gives you common sense.
You were not alone. I personally thought Trump was going to start war with Iran toward the end of his Presidency. When it came to Iran, he was like a dog on a bone.
On the war thing, I was more concerned about HRC than Trump. Trump actually did relatively well on the foreign entanglement front.
I agree that she would have been a disaster. Trump was the only option but I wouldn’t go as far as saying he “did relatively well.”
Bitch be crazy. Trump blundered less worse. How’s that?
Wars, you complete me.
Unfortunately for you, it’s true…. I did too… :-{
Me too.
Don’t feel badly. You are honest and have learned from your mistake. There really was no choice for us in the 2020 election.
don’t feel bad – i am a moron and i didn’t vote for either of them
Only true if you don’t learn from it come 2024
Well,we didn’t expected that he is Moron,we all thought anyone must be better than Trump.
Well,I am moron too that I expected that he would be better than Trump.
The neoCON warmongers are like cockroaches. They hid during Trump and have come back out under Biden. We need to TERMINIX the roaches.
Neocons hid during Trump? Here’s another stupid question, what was John Bolton doing in the Trump administration?
They never went away. They stymied Obama, stymied Trump, and now run Biden.
Biden isn’t kidding anybody. The whole world knows that negotiating with Zelensky can only work if Blinken has a seat at the table. But Zelensky has to be there too because he can throw a wrench into the works. All of the players already understand this. So, I guess it has become a game to influence public opinion.
OMG. The talks would last for 10 seconds. US to Russia. Stop the war and go back to Feb 24 borders. Russia to US. No we have annexed 20 % of Ukraine and we are keeping it. And that would be the end of discussion.
Proof that you believe history started on Feb 24th, 2022. Before Feb 24th, 2022 that 20% of annexed land was still under the control of Ukraine and Russia was willing and even asking for diplomacy.
But in March of 2022:
“According to a report in UKRANIAN media, Johnson said even if Ukraine was ready to sign a deal, the West wasn’t, and his visit was a factor in why a Zelensky-Putin meeting didn’t happen at the time.”
Keep ignoring who really didn’t/doesn’t want to negotiate.
“Russia was willing and even asking for diplomacy” And yet Russia attacked startling a war that has last for 8 months and has cost Russia more KIA than US lost in Vietnam. But of course it is the West fault for not ending the war that Russia started. Starting a war is rarely justified, and certainly not in this case.
It was obvious the diplomacy Russia was seeking had to do with their very existence. They stated that over and over. Now whether you believe their existence was indeed in peril, or not, doesn’t matter. Russia did and does. So, as a last resort in their mind, they invaded. Once again, I’ll do the justifiable whataboutism and remind you what our own country, the US, would have done under similar conditions. And yes, it is a FACT that the war could have ended in March if not for the West’s insistence of prolonging it to weaken Russia.
What you are saying is Russia is not guilty of starting the war because they are insane. I guess they heard voices in their head saying the West was out to get them. Insane or not, they still started the current war in Ukraine by invading on Feb 24.
You are not an honest broker. Blocked.
What I said was Russia believed they were left with little choice but to invade. Simple as that. If you’re oblivious to the many years of provocations I guess I can’t help that.
As of October 28, not even the Ukrainian regime’s claims of Russian KIA came to the 58k the US lost in Vietnam. The Ukrainian regime claim is 69,700 “losses,” including killed and wounded.
The Russian regime admits to 5,937 KIA as of late September. BBC News says 7,822 “confirmed minimum by name” as of late September.
Likewise, the Russian regime claims its forces have killed 61,000 Ukrainian troops, while the Ukrainian regime admits to 9,000.
Yes, Russia attacked BECAUSE THE US WOULD NOT TALK and after very clear warning that Biden publicly announced he heard loud and clear.
BECAUSE THE US WOUOD NOT TALK That is not a good reason to start a war. I wonder how the parents of the 60,000 or so dead Russians feel about their son dying because the US would not talk to Russia.
I assume that you are consistent in that you condemn the U.S. for the wars it started in places like Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, etc.
The U.S. invaded Ukraine? As to the rest of the Empire, I would say bring all U.S. troops home. That still doesn’t excuse Russian aggression and invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. spent $5 Billion dollars destabilizing Ukraine to set things up for the 2014 coup. I got that from a speech by none other than Victoria Nuland. Of course she said it was money spent to promote democracy in Ukraine. Never mind that Ukraine had a democratically elected leader. So, yes, the U.S. invaded Ukraine first with our paid NGOs, CIA operatives, and military advisers. Have you seen the video of John McCain, LIndsey Graham, Jean Shaheen, Amy Klobuchar and other U.S. politicians over there pushing the Ukrainians to go to war against Russia and promising them all kinds of military help if they did so? Quite the eye opener.
Do you think the bombardment of the people in the Donbass over the interval of 2014-2021 was excusable?
Given that the areas bombarded were occupied almost exclusively by ethnic Russians, do you believe the Russians should have stood by indefinitely? If not, what should the Russians have done at the point when the daily bombardment suddenly accelerated by over a factor of ten in one twenty four hour period in February 2022?
Try to be specific and try to stay on point.
It doesn’t matter if he is consistent or not. What matters is that the USA is not consistent. It is the USA’s conduct which is at issue here, not “Kenneth Harper’s.”
Just wanted to make sure that Harper was consistent. Of course the U.S. is never consistent or trustworthy.
I do. When it is warranted. It not in this case.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/russiagate-ukraine-nato-route-nuclear-war/276634/
Hardly the only reason. As you well know.
Yes, it is the best reason, maybe the only reason. Otherwise, it could be handled diplomatically.
That is why this is Biden’s War, that yes he did provoke, deliberately so, by calculation, for longstanding neocon goals.
Why do you think wars start? Please list the reasons. But make sure you refer to actual wars.
So country A would not talk to country B; so country B invaded country C. Yep, sounds logical to me; not.
By Fiona Hill and Angela Stent
Even the most dedicated propagandists admit that there was a deal. It sounded reasonable.
https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1586669473066516485
“Stop nuclear war with Russia!”
Former US President Barack Obama’s speech is interrupted by anti-war protestors.
I think that the US and indeed the wider west will be reluctant to negotiate with Russia over the heads of the Ukrainians – it is bad optics as it easily looks like a repeat of Munich 1938 apart from that I think that if the Russians want sanctions lifted then they have to go back to the 2014 borders from before they annexed Crimea – but otherwise I agree the conversation would be short.
Feb 24, 2000
Box of rocks Lloyd Austin or beta male Blinken take your pick. There are no intelligent people to talk to in Washington.
This is how the Ukraine War started — the US refused to talk about any of the issues. More of the same.
Inciting this war was a longstanding policy goal of the Blob. To them, this is success, and they mean to keep doing it.
Who starts a war because someone will not talk to them? That is weak and lame.
and history will judge in this case foolish, “worse than a crime, a blunder”
In your case I do not assume you are ignorant of the events and conversations of December 2021 and January 2022.
Learn something about the two months leading up to the invasion. Really, your comments indicate you either deliberately ignore those events or completely missed them.
Learn something about the two months leading up to the invasion. Really, your comments indicate you either deliberately ignore those events or completely missed them.
Try to remember Cuban missile Crisis 1962,Soviet missile too close to America because there is not time to respond,if Soviets pushed the nuclear button 3 to 4 second’s America destroyed,no time to respond,same applying possible ( 100% )America missile border with Russians right now,matter of seconds Russians extermination and no time to respond,
We don’t have to be manufacturer if nuclear bombs to know this!
Sure but now that Russia has lost 1/2 its Army the situation has changed now Ukraine will demand more. Maybe Russia can keep Crimea. The relative negotiating power of each side shifts depending on the results on the battlefield.
Why wouldn’t Ukraine demand to keep Crimea if Russia is taking such a beating? Doing some quick math in my head, if it only took 20% of Ukrainian territory to destroy half of Russia’s Army then 40% should mean Russia would be defenseless. And if it only took $67 billion from the US, then we can assume another $67 billion should do the trick. Now let’s get that next aid check in the mail.
Russia has lost 500,000 plus soldiers? How?
Guesses are 70Killed and maybe 200k injured but they all come from one service. So the border guards are still intact, the rocket forces are still intact but the tanks and artillery and infantry not so intact.
Not an answer.
Sure it is, how many front line tanks does Russia have left? how many attack helicopters, how many infantry fighting vehicles, how many artillery tubes, rocket launchers etc Mobniks sure the still have millions to go.
Well that is a big concession, the Russians admit the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government. Making progress.
They will let it live, maybe, if we started to talk. Since we won’t, it may be destroyed.
Again with the genocide?
Genocide? Wasn’t the conversation about the Ukranian government ( They will let it live) ?
Yes, the only way to make peace when the USA is sponsoring a lousy, proxy regime is to convince USA to quit the field. South Vietman’s puppet regime would never agree to peace. Neither would Afghanistan’s. Such regimes, like the neo nazi regime in Kiev, simply CAN’T make peace. Their only purpose is to serve as a cat’s paw for their master, the USA. A puppet “president” who gets too big for his britches, and tries to make peace without his overlord’s permission, will soon find himself an ex president, and might find himself dead, as well. A cat’s paw has no volition, no will power, no decision making authority. The USA is financing the war. It is supplying the weapons, the ammo, the “humanitarian” assistance, the “intel,” the training, the political and diplomatic cover, the “special forces,” the “consultants,” the sanctions, etc, etc. It will decide when and if enough is enough, not the little comedian.
Look at Putin’s recent speech at the Valdai International Discussion Club. As Takimag notes, it’s like the West’s Davos but for serious people, not celebrities and media-elected politicians. Putin’s speech is like from an Ivy League history professor at a graduate seminar. He references Carl Popper’s book from 75 years ago and expects the audience to understand the reference. It is political, philosophical and historical. In the discussion afterward it is clear he has firm a grasp of his speech, it wasn’t written for him.
Meanwhile in Ukraine you have an actor who declares “we will fight until total victory!” which is the movie version of war, aimed at a Western movie-swallowing audience. Almost no wars in history end without negotiations and conditions from both sides. Zelensky is encouraged to talk like this by Biden, who wants tough talk so the war fever will carry his party through the midterms. And so thousands of Ukrainian conscripts are forced to rush toward artillery and die for the careers of corrupt politicians.
Yes