A report confirms Putin's openness to stopping the battles against Ukraine… and the Kremlin responds

The newspaper quoted its information from two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin, and from an American and an international official, who received signals from Putin’s envoys since at least last September.

A former Russian official told the New York Times, “Putin is really prepared to stop at the current lines.”

But the official conveyed a message that he said the Kremlin “was sending quietly,” and added that Putin “is not willing to step back a single meter.”

However, the Russian “Sputnik” news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin “is ready for negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine, only to achieve the goals of the special military operation,” which is the name Moscow gives to its attack on Ukraine.

Peskov's statements came as a comment on the New York Times report.

Peskov explained that these proposals are “incorrect in their concept,” adding: “Putin is really ready to negotiate. He said that,” stressing that “Russia is still ready for negotiations, but only to achieve its goals.”

According to the American newspaper, dozens of meetings with both Russians who have known Putin for a long time and with international officials show that “Putin is a leader who is maneuvering to reduce risks and keep his options open in a war that has lasted longer than he expected,” they said, as it approaches entering its third year.

An international official who met with senior Russian officials this fall said: “They say we are ready to negotiate a ceasefire, and they want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”

The New York Times quoted officials as saying that “Putin believes that a confluence of factors has created an appropriate opportunity for an agreement,” explaining that these factors are “a battlefield that appears to be stuck in a dead end, the repercussions of the disappointing Ukrainian attack, the decline in Western support, and the resulting distraction.” About the war in Gaza.