Putin said he won't attack Ukraine's energy sector, but that was before Ukraine's Kursk offensive – Russian Security Council Secretary

Russian Security Council Secretary (and former defence minister) Sergei Shoigu has said that before Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk Oblast Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed to Türkiye’s proposal to stop Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and commercial and civilian ships.

Source: Sergei Shoigu in an interview with pro-Kremlin Russian media

Read also: From Zelenskyy's "surrender" to Putin's surrender: how the negotiations with Russia are going

Quote: "Türkiye said to us, they [Ukraine] have this proposal, let’s have [Russia] vouch we wouldn’t strike energy infrastructure, we wouldn’t strike nuclear energy facilities, and we wouldn’t strike commercial civilian fleets in the Black Sea. Our president [Vladimir Putin] made a decision and agreed to this."

Details: Shoigu also claimed that Ukraine rejected this agreement, likely suggesting that the Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk Oblast is evidence of Ukraine’s alleged rejection.

Read also: Before and after the counteroffensive: Are there perspectives in peace negotiations with Russia?

Background: 

• Since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been trying to negotiate peace. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly called on Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to discuss all pressing issues in person. The Russian ignored Zelenskyy. Eventually, Zelenskyy stated that Putin's statements about his desire for peace were not sincere and approved the National Security and Defence Council's decision about the impossibility of negotiating with him.
• A few weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a peace deal could have been signed. The conditions for ending the war then were spelled out in a 17-page draft agreement that the parties agreed on on 15 April 2022. Russia demanded neutrality from Ukraine, and a limit on the number of troops, weapons, equipment and vehicles. The then-occupied territories were to remain with Russia.
• However, in April 2022, Russia effectively disrupted peace talks with Ukraine by including a clause in the draft agreement stating that it would have a veto over the international community's response in the event of a repeated attack on Ukraine.
• In September 2024, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that Russia had not abandoned the idea of negotiations with Ukraine but they should be based on the "documents" agreed upon in Istanbul in 2022.

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