‘Tell him I’ll smash them,’ Putin reportedly says as he rejects Zelenskyy’s scribbled peace proposal

In recent weeks, Roman Abramovich, the former owner of the Chelsea FC soccer team, has been acting as an impromptu diplomat, working to relay messages between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Abramovich, a massively wealthy Russian businessman, is presently staying in Istanbul, Turkey, in an attempt to dodge Western penalties on his money. Apart from his business ventures, Abramovich is also recognised for his tight ties with Putin.

According to the Daily Mail, Abramovich has been working as a “peacemaker” from his house in Turkey, flying back and forth between Moscow and Ukraine, speaking with Putin and Zelenskyy.

Abramovich took a private plane from his Istanbul home to Moscow last Wednesday.

The oligarch rushed into Moscow to meet with Putin and pass over a handwritten note from Zelenskyy outlining Ukraine’s peace demands.

In response, Putin is believed to have responded, “Tell him I’ll smash them.”

Abramovich went to Istanbul after meeting with Putin in Moscow, where he met with Ukrainian politician turned negotiator Rustem Umerov.

In Turkey, Abramovich and Umerov were aided in discussions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Kalin.

Kalin proposed that Ukrainian authorities strike an agreement with their Russian counterparts under which Crimea and Donbas would be kept on a long-term lease, similar to the arrangement between the United Kingdom and China regarding Hong Kong.

Putin is allegedly pondering the accord, but his tremendous irritation with his military’s lack of success, as well as his contempt for Zelenskyy, are preventing him from doing so.

Abramovich is one of several Russian oligarchs seeking sanctuary in Turkey from Western sanctions. He now has two of his superyachts docked at Bodrum, Turkey’s southwest coast city.

Because of his usefulness and readiness to participate in and aid with peace discussions, Abramovich, in particular, has been able to manoeuvre beyond Turkish government sanctions, despite his strong friendship with Putin.

Previous peace discussions between Russian and Ukrainian coalitions, held by Turkey, are said to have failed.

However, this is not a one-of-a-kind experience.

As the battle grinds on, efforts to establish peace are becoming increasingly difficult.

The Israeli government’s leadership has likewise had difficulties in advocating for peace.

In mid-March, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Zelenskyy and urged him to accept Putin’s terms for peace, which included an immediate cessation of military action, enshrining geopolitical neutrality in the Ukrainian constitution, officially recognising Crimea as Russian territory, and recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

These phrases did not sit well with Zelenskyy.