According to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin does not yet understand what Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has in mind when he speaks of the “second peace summit.”
Commenting on Zelenskyy’s remarks that Russian representatives should participate in the next summit on Ukraine, the Kremlin Spokesman stated that the first peace summit was not a peace summit at all.
“So one must understand first what he has in mind,” he added.
Earlier, Zelenskyy disclosed that he aims to have a plan ready in November to enable Ukraine to hold a second international summit on his vision of peace in the country.
“I think that representatives of Russia should be at the second summit,” Zelenskyy suggested.
Zelenskyy’s apparent welcoming of Russia to talks marks a change of tone from the conference in Switzerland, ahead of which the Ukrainian leader categorically ruled out inviting Moscow.
Ukraine hosted delegations from 92 countries at a first summit in Switzerland last month to advance its blueprint for peace.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was not invited to the event and dismissed it as a non-starter.
Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, the Holy See, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Mexico, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates did not sign the summit communique.
Washington noted that it backed Ukraine’s decision to invite Russia to a second summit, but expressed doubt about Moscow’s readiness.
“When they want to invite Russia to that summit, of course, that is something we support,” US State Department Spokesman, Matthew Miller told journalists.
“We’ve always supported diplomacy when Ukraine is ready, but it has never been clear that the Kremlin is ready for actual diplomacy,” he said.
However there is growing apprehension in Kyiv about how a potential Donald Trump victory in November’s US elections might affect continued American aid to Ukraine.
The Republican Party candidate has suggested he would end the conflict very quickly if he won back the presidency, a promise Kyiv fears would mean being forced to negotiate with Moscow from a weakened position.
Zelenskyy said on Monday he was “not worried” about the prospect of a Trump victory and that he was still counting on support from the United States, Ukraine’s biggest financial and military backer.
Just “Smoke And Mirrors”
In an interview, Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, asserted that all claims by the Kyiv regime about its readiness to resolve the conflict via political-diplomatic means are just “smoke and mirrors,” as the decree banning negotiations with Russia remains in effect in Ukraine.
“Had the authorities in Kyiv been indeed ready to resolve the crisis politically and diplomatically, then first of all, they would have canceled the decree on a self-ban on conducting talks with the Russian leadership and agreed to a focused discussion of other initiatives, except for the categorical ‘Zelensky formula.’”
Alexey Polishchuk
“As long as the ban stays in force and the ‘formula’ continues to be implemented, all claims by Kiev about its aspiration for peace are just empty words and smoke and mirrors,” Polishchuk added.
“We are certain that the countries of the global majority understand this,” Polishchuk stressed.
The diplomat noted that behind the “pseudo-peaceful rhetoric” and statements by Kyiv representatives on their readiness for talks with Russia is the intention to “earn the sympathy of the countries of the Global South and lure them over to the anti-Russian Western side.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly stressed that Russia has always been open to discuss a political-diplomatic settlement in Ukraine but “Kyiv is against it.”
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