New report has indicated that Vladimir Putin is ready for Ukraine peace negotiations with the United States.
Using informal communication channels, Russian leader Vladimir Putin persists in exploring if the United States is prepared to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine, according to Bloomberg’s report on January 25.
According to two sources close to the Kremlin, Putin has initiated tentative discussions with the United States through indirect means to indicate his willingness to engage in dialogue, including discussions on future security arrangements for Ukraine.
However, U.S. officials say they are not aware of such plans and do not think that Putin genuinely intends to halt the invasion of Ukraine.
The insiders further indicated that they conveyed these signals to senior U.S. officials last month through an intermediary, whose identity they declined to reveal.
Putin, they suggested, may be open to considering the prospect of retracting his insistence on Ukraine’s neutral status and even ceasing opposition to Ukraine’s potential NATO membership, which had served as a primary reason for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On December 23, 2023, The New York Times reported that despite recent statements by Russian leader Vladimir Putin declaring that his objectives in the conflict with Ukraine remain unchanged, he is signaling through unofficial diplomatic channels his readiness to negotiate.
Also in December, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov stated that Russia does not presently intend to prolong the conflict into 2025. Defense Intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov later clarified that this planning could evolve based on the developments of 2024.
