Kremlin Does Not Exclude Talks with Zelensky

In practical terms, Russia is open to achieving its goals through negotiations, Dmitry Peskov says. Russia might go into negotiations with Ukraine under the rule President Zelensky, ‘but under certain conditions.’ Kremlin speaker Dmitry Peskov said this at the briefing on Thursday, 25 July. ‘The issue is not an easy one. In legal terms, this problem is on the agenda, but in practical terms, we are open to achieving our goals through negotiations, so different options are possible,’ he said. According to Peskov, the Ukrainian President seems to have ‘lost legitimacy’. ‘Besides the general problem of legitimacy, there is also a problem of the actual legislative ban on any contacts and negotiations with the Russian side, all these bans are in force. So, there are a lot of things to be clarified and you and I need to have some explanations,’ Peskov said, although in fact the ban only applies to talks with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Concerning the topic of possible negotiations with Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesman added: ‘Russia is generally open to negotiations, but first we need to understand how ready Ukraine, the country’s government, the Ukrainian side is, and what permission Ukraine has from its handlers, because you see that so far very different statements have been made, and it is not quite clear yet.’ Earlier it was reported that Zelensky did not exclude the possibility of personal communication with Putin to end the war. In its turn, the Kremlin said that it was waiting for Ukraine’s ‘concrete steps’ towards dialogue.