Putin announces readiness to return to negotiations after elections
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was allegedly ready to resume peace dialogue with Ukraine after the parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation, which took place on September 18–20.
Putin said this on September 25, TASS reported.
According to the Russian president, the possibility of returning to negotiations after the elections had been discussed earlier. However, he did not provide a specific date for a new round, its format, or the composition of participants.
Information about a possible resumption of the negotiation process after the Russian elections appeared as early as beginning of September. At that time, sources in the Élysée Palace said that American mediators saw a “new readiness” on Moscow's part for dialogue precisely after the end of the voting.
Later, the Kremlin publicly confirmed this position. Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow expected the resumption of the trilateral negotiation process involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. In addition, the Russian side claimed that it did not put forward preconditions directly for the start of a new round of negotiations.
The Ukrainian side also allowed for the continuation of negotiations with U.S. mediation. President Volodymyr Zelensky previously spoke about the possibility of a new trilateral format, but emphasized the need to increase pressure on Russia and additional sanctions.
Despite Moscow's statements about readiness for dialogue, as of September 25, a new round of negotiations had not started. Hostilities and Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory continue.
Parliamentary elections in Russia took place on September 18–20. Voting was also organized in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The European Union stated that it did not recognize either the holding of such voting on Ukrainian territories or its results, calling it a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
