Kremlin: Russia Ready for Real Peace Talks on Ukraine Without 'Artificial Pauses'

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to achieving a serious peace in Ukraine and to making serious decisions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

Photo: Yükleyenin kendi çalışması by W. Bulach, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Moscow, Red Square

At the same time, the Kremlin representative emphasized that the president is "absolutely not open to any tricks aimed at dragging out time and creating artificial pauses.”

Speaking with journalists, Peskov also stated that peace in Ukraine is desired by US President Donald Trump, who is working on resolving the conflict together with his administration.

Talk of Deadlines Is Unproductive

Discussions about specific timelines for resolving the conflict in Ukraine are an ungrateful task, Dmitry Peskov said, as reported by TASS.

"I would not venture to speak about any deadlines. I believe that doing so right now would be the most ungrateful thing.”

He made this statement in response to a question about whether it would be realistic to reach an agreed position on resolving the conflict by Catholic Christmas on December 24.

Russia Values US Efforts Toward Peace

The administration of US President Donald Trump is sincerely working toward a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, and the Russian side highly appreciates these efforts, Peskov said.

"He wants a settlement of this conflict. He is making efforts, and his entire team is making efforts. We highly value these efforts.”

NATO Membership as Cornerstone Issue

Ukraine's commitment to renouncing membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a cornerstone issue in negotiations on resolving the conflict, Peskov stated.

"Naturally, this issue is one of the cornerstones.”

He was responding to a question about what form of legally binding document on Kyiv's refusal to join the alliance would be preferable.

Peskov added that this issue requires special discussion alongside other conditions for settling the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, the Kremlin does not intend to conduct negotiations in a "megaphone format.”

Possible Concessions by Kyiv

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities allowed for the possibility of renouncing NATO membership and holding presidential elections in the country within 100 days as part of a settlement with Russia.

According to Bild, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to a number of concessions during a meeting in Berlin on December 14 with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and businessman Jared Kushner.