Kremlin prepared to wait for a new president of Ukraine to negotiate

OLENA ROSHCHINA — TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022, 13:23

Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said that negotiations with Ukraine would have to wait for a change in the stance taken by the current President of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, or for his successor.

Source: Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti

Quote from Peskov: "Well, what can we say now? We will either wait for a change in the stance of the current President, or we will wait for a future President of Ukraine, who will change his position in favour of the Ukrainian people."

Details: This was Peskov’s comment on the decree by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implementing the decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, dated 30 September, on the impossibility of negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Ukraine's application to join NATO and on strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

Thus, the Kremlin made it clear that they are not going to end the war, whilst Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated, before the latest stage of Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territories, that the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine was a condition for negotiations with the Russian Federation.

Previously: On 30 September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is ready for negotiations with Russia, but only with another president of the Russian Federation, not with Vladimir Putin. On that day, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council stated the impossibility of negotiating with Putin, and Zelenskyy approved this decision.

Before that, Moscow had repeatedly accused Kyiv of withdrawing from negotiations, but in fact, Russia did not seem prepared for compromises, refused to withdraw from the captured territories, and put forward ultimatums, seeking the surrender of Ukraine.

Since May, both sides have made it clear that negotiations will not help to stop the war, and they have sought to gain an advantage on the battlefield first.

Background:

• On 21 September, amidst the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly supported sham referendums on the occupied territories of Ukraine and announced partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation.
• On 27 September, Russian-appointed puppets on the occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts completed sham referendums on joining Russia. Their results were known in advance.
• On 30 September, Putin signed "agreements" on the accession of the annexed territories to Russia and declared that from now on, people living in the occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts would be considered Russian citizens. Russia’s Constitutional Court approved this package of documents, and the State Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament) ratified them.  
• The Russian government said that the transition period for the newly annexed territories would last until 2026. 
• The occupiers are already planning parliamentary elections in the newly annexed territories in 2023. 
• Neither Ukraine nor the world’s democratic community recognises the results of sham referendums or the "admission" of the above-mentioned oblasts to Russia, as was the case with Crimea in 2014.

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