Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine, says Putin

• Putin says West trying to break up Russia.
• Accuses Kyiv, West of refusing to negotiate.
• Says 99.9% of Russians ready to defend motherland.

President Vladimir Putin stated in an interview that was aired on Sunday that Russia is willing to dialogue with all parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers have so far declined to do so.

The most deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two and the largest standoff between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were both precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The war still has a ways to go until it is over.

While Kiev claims it won’t stop until every Russian soldier is removed from all of its land, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, the Kremlin asserts that it will fight until all of its goals are realised.

Putin said in the interview with state channel Rossiya 1, “We are willing to speak with everyone involved about workable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are.”

While most hostilities are resolved through discussion, CIA Director William Burns stated in an interview that was released this month that the agency believed that Russia was not yet serious about a true negotiation to end the war.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s advisor claimed that Putin needed to face reality and admit that it was Russia that was opposed to any dialogue.

“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility.”

‘No other choice’

Putin said Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine because the West, led by the United States, was trying to cleave Russia apart. Washington denies it is plotting Russia’s collapse.

“I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens,” Putin said.

Asked if the geopolitical conflict with the West was approaching a dangerous level, Putin said: “I don’t think it’s so dangerous.”

Putin said the West had begun the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 by toppling a pro-Russian president in the Maidan Revolution protests.

Soon after that revolution, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces began fighting Ukraine’s armed forces in eastern Ukraine.

“Actually, the fundamental thing here is the policy of our geopolitical opponents which is aimed at pulling apart Russia, historical Russia,” Putin said.

Putin casts what he calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine as a watershed moment when Moscow finally stood up to a Western bloc he says has been seeking to destroy Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Putin, according to Ukraine and the West, lacks legitimacy for what they describe as an occupying war in the manner of imperialism that has caused pain and fatalities throughout Ukraine.

Putin called Russia a “special country” and asserted that the vast majority of its citizens shared a desire to protect it.

“As for the main part — the 99.9% of our citizens, our people who are ready to give everything for the interests of the Motherland — there is nothing unusual for me here,” Putin said.

“This just once again convinces me that Russia is a unique country and that we have an exceptional people. This has been confirmed throughout the history of Russia’s existence.”

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