Russian President, Vladimir Putinconsiders that its army has the initiative in Ukraine and ability to defeat Ukrainian troops, but insists that the terms of an agreement to end the conflict will not negotiate them with their current Ukrainian counterpart, … Volodimir Zelenski, who, according to him, “lacks legitimacy” by not having summoned elections last year after the end of his five -year mandate. Therefore, Putin asks for a “temporary administration” for Ukraine under mandate of the UN that summons those elections and enables the arrival of another president with whom, according to his words, peace can be negotiated.
“We are gradually moving forward, not as fast as some of them would like, but with perseverance and firmness towards the achievement of all the objectives set at the beginning of this special military operation,” said Russian president in the northern port of Múrmansk before the sailors of the nuclear submarine ‘Arjánguelsk’. “Throughout the entire contact line, the front, our troops have the strategic initiative, and recently I said that we are squeezing them, but there are reasons to believe that we will end up ending them,” Putin added.
In this supposedly victorious context, the Kremlin head reiterated his already repeated argument that “Zelenski is not legitimate, nor do other Ukrainian leaders.” He affirmed that, in this situation, “world practice suggests the possibility of introducing temporary external control in the country, which could open the way to negotiations to put an end to the conflict.”
«That practice exists and, in principle, would be possible under the auspices of the UN, with the United States, with European countries and, of course, with our partners and friends. Discuss the possibility of introducing a temporary direction in Ukraine (…) necessary to hold democratic elections and bring to power to a capable and effective government that has the confidence of the people and with which peace conversations can be addressed, ”said the top Russian leader.
In his words, the US president, Donald Trump, “sincerely seeks peace in Ukraine for several reasons.” After previously remembering a moratorium to end mutual attacks against energy infrastructure, last Monday, Russian and American representatives met again to agree a high fire in the black sea.
However, the statements launched this Thursday in Murmansk suggest that the Russian president is not seriously considering the 30 -day fire proposed by the United States and Ukraine. It remains to be seen what kyiv’s reaction will be to the idea of introducing an external administration under the mandate of the United Nations. Zelenski has been repeatedly explaining that martial law, imposed after the beginning of the Russian invasion, prevents organizing elections by having a large part of the mobilized male population and hundreds of thousands of refugees in other countries.
On the other hand, to normalize the situation in the Black Sea, Moscow requires lifting the sanctions to banking operations to allow the resumption of russian exports of grain and fertilizers, something that the European Union has already announced that it will not do while Russia does not retire from the territories occupied in Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubioduring a press conference with Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew HolnessHe said that some of the conditions required by Russia “include raising sanctions that we do not impose, but are the competence of the European Union.” The Swift International Banking System, from which the Russian Bank Rosseljozbank was disconnected in June 2022, is registered in Belgium.
Also in Murmansk, in the course of a forum dedicated to the development of the Arctic, Putin said Thursday that the United States’s plans to annex Greenland seem “serious”, since, according to his opinion, Washington’s plans in relation to the island have “deep historical roots” and are not something “extravagant.” “The United States had such purposes already in the 1860s (…) the US government considered the possibility of annexing Greenland and Iceland, but this idea did not have the support of Congress at that time,” said the Russian president and added that USA “tried in the twentieth century to acquire Greenlandia, in 1910, and after the end of World War II. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in what is happening today. The United States will continue to systematically drive its geostrategic, political-military and economic interests in the Arctic ».
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