A New Step in the Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Putin Proposes Conditional Meeting

Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow. However, he emphasized that such a meeting should not be merely symbolic but must be prepared in a way that leads to tangible results.

Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow. However, he emphasized that such a meeting should not be merely symbolic but must be prepared in a way that leads to tangible results.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, China, Putin said: “Meeting just for the sake of meeting is a dead end. If the meeting is well-prepared and yields positive outcomes, I have never opposed it.”

Putin recalled that U.S. President Donald Trump had called for such a meeting during their summit in Alaska last month. “If Zelensky is ready, he can come to Moscow and the meeting will take place,” he said.

However, the Russian leader also raised questions about Zelensky’s legitimacy, pointing out that Ukraine lacks a legal mechanism to extend a presidential term. For this reason, Putin expressed doubts about whether such talks would be “truly beneficial.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas, stated that Moscow’s top priority remains resolving the crisis through peaceful means. Lavrov noted that three rounds of direct negotiations held earlier this year in Istanbul, Türkiye, had resulted in some progress, including prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of fallen soldiers’ bodies.