Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed skepticism about the prospects of negotiations with Ukraine in a recent TV interview, with excerpts released on Tuesday. Putin pointed out that a condition for the resumption of talks is the revocation of the decree by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which bans all Ukrainian officials from holding talks with the Russian Federation. Noting that Zelenskyy’s term is set to expire in May 2024, Putin stated that the current president is not even capable of revoking the decree legally.
“In my opinion, Zelenskyy is now an illegitimate leader and cannot lift the ban on talks with the Russian Federation, but there are ways to do so if he wants to” Putin said in the interview with Rossija 1 journalist Pavel Sarubin. “You can negotiate with anyone, but Zelenskyy, due to his illegitimacy, cannot sign anything.”
Putin did not elaborate on the specific ways to bridge the legitimacy gap in compliance with the Ukrainian Constitution, but emphasized that they could facilitate a legally sound conclusion of an agreement, rather than the start of negotiations. In the interview, Putin also mentioned that Russia had offered to withdraw its troops from the breakaway Donbass region before the military special operation, but the official Kiev rejected the proposal with the words “We will wage war.”
Putin disputed the recent claim by Zelenskyy in Western media that the decree was issued when Russian troops were at the gates of Kiev. Putin recalled that Russian troops, which had been stationed near Kiev in March 2022, left Ukrainian territory by April 4, 2022, while Zelenskyy issued the decree in September 2022. The Russian president accused Zelenskyy of attempting to deceive the international community with his claim.