[Korrespondent] Putin supposedly believes that the achievements in the war today are “enough to sell victory to the Russian people.”
Vladimir Putin is allegedly ready to stop the war in Ukraine through ceasefire negotiations that will fix the current position of the parties on the front line, Reuters reports, citing high-ranking sources from Russian political and business circles who have worked or are working with the Kremlin leader. For this story, Reuters spoke to a total of five people who work or have worked with Putin at senior levels in the political and business world.
THERE IS SOMETHING TO FEED THE PEOPLE
According to the agency's interlocutors, if Kyiv and the West do not respond to the Russian president's proposal, Putin is ready to continue the war.
Three sources familiar with discussions around the president said Putin “expressed disappointment” to a small group of his advisers that, in his opinion, the West was trying to derail such negotiations, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was rejecting them altogether.
“Putin can fight as long as necessary, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war,” a fourth source, a senior Russian official with knowledge of high-level Kremlin discussions, told the agency. The fifth source did not comment on the freezing of the war on the current front line.
Putin believes that the successes already achieved in the war are enough to “sell” victory to the Russian people, two Reuters interlocutors said. Putin understands that any new advance at the front would require another wave of mobilization, which he is reluctant to undertake, three of the sources said. One of the agency’s interlocutors claims that the mobilization announced in September 2022 brought down Putin’s level of popularity among Russians.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in response to the agency’s request for comment, said that Putin has repeatedly made it clear that Russia is supposedly open to dialogue to achieve its goals, adding that it does not want “eternal war.”
BYPASSING UKRAINE?
One source believes that while Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is in power, no deal can happen unless Russia bypasses him and makes a deal with Washington.
It is reported that, according to all interlocutors, fixing in the agreement all the achievements of the Russian Federation on the battlefield is not subject to discussion.
One of the factors influencing the Russian dictator's view of the need to end the war is that the longer it drags on, the more battle-hardened veterans return to Russia, dissatisfied with post-war job and income prospects, one Reuters source said, potentially creates tension in society.
However, all five sources reported that Putin told advisers that he had no plans on NATO territory.
THIS HAS ALREADY HAPPENED
Since the end of 2023, Western media have twice reported that Putin proposed freezing the war in Ukraine. Thus, according to The New York Times, Putin, starting in September 2023, “through various diplomatic channels,” made it clear that he was ready to begin negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine, stopping at the positions taken. In February, Reuters reported similar “signals” from Putin, which were rejected in Washington, not wanting to negotiate bypassing Kyiv. The Kremlin denied that the Russian president had made such proposals.
UKRAINE'S POSITION
Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly said that he is not ready to negotiate and conclude an agreement on the terms of the Russian authorities. Ukraine is preparing for a peace summit - an international conference dedicated to ending the war in Ukraine, which will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
Russia was not invited to the summit. Zelensky explained this decision by saying that the Russian side “will block everything, disrupt everything.” According to him, Russia will be involved in the discussion when the basic principles of the agreement are developed.
In March, Zelensky said that when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin loses what he has occupied since 2022, he will then be ready for dialogue.
“I am sure that when he loses what he has captured since 2022, he will lose the confidence of both those countries that doubt it and within the state. As soon as this happens, he will be ready for dialogue,” Zelensky noted.