US Rejects Putin’s Latest Offer for Negotiations on Ukraine

The Biden administration has rejected the idea of diplomacy with Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago

The US has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest offer for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, as the Biden administration has consistently discouraged diplomacy in the nearly two years since Russia launched its invasion.

Putin made the offer during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was released on Carlson’s website and X account last week.

“We are willing to negotiate,” Putin said. Referring to the US government, the Russian leader added, “You should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to the negotiating table.”

In response, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council told The New York Times that the US has no reason to believe Putin is being genuine.

“Both we and President Zelensky have said numerous times that we believe this war will end through negotiations,” the spokesperson said. “Despite Mr. Putin’s words, we have seen no actions to indicate he is interested in ending this war. If he was, he would pull back his forces and stop his ceaseless attacks on Ukraine.”

The latest US rejection of diplomacy with Russia comes as it’s clear Ukraine has no chance of beating Russia on the battlefield, and Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines are facing shortages of weapons and personnel.

Describing the bleak situation, a Ukrainian battalion commander on the frontlines told The Washington Post: “There’s no positive outlook. Absolutely none. It’s going to end in a lot of death, a global failure. And most likely, I think, the front will collapse somewhere like it did for the enemy in 2022, in the Kharkiv region.”

The NSC spokesperson told the Times, “Ultimately, it’s up to Ukraine to decide its path on negotiations.” Zelensky has shown no interest in diplomacy with Moscow and is still pushing his “peace formula” as a plan to end the war, which includes a full Russian withdrawal, Russia giving up Crimea, war crimes tribunals, and Russia paying reparations.

Russia and Ukraine were engaged in peace talks in the early days of the invasion, but those negotiations were discouraged by the West.

David Arakhamia, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who led the Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul during peace talks with Russia in March 2022, said in November that Russia only wanted a commitment of Ukrainian neutrality to end the war at the time.

Arakhamia also confirmed earlier reporting from Ukrainska Pravda that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky that even if Kyiv was ready to sign a deal with Moscow, Ukraine’s Western backers were not. “When we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson came to Kyiv and said that we would not sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight,” he said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.