Putin: We are ready to negotiate on the US plan / Crimea and Donbas should be for Russia

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - International Service: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at the end of the Collective Security Treaty Organization meeting in Kyrgyzstan that his country is ready to share weapons, military equipment and advanced technologies with the members of this organization and that joint exercises will continue. He also announced joint planning between Russia and Kyrgyzstan to build a small nuclear power plant and emphasized that Russia is the only country that produces and deploys such power plants on an industrial scale.

 

Putin, referring to Russia’s advances in drones, described it as a “revolution” and said the first priority was to meet the needs of the domestic armed forces, but after that Russia could provide significant assistance to its partners.

 

Regarding the US plan to resolve the Ukraine crisis, he said: “There was no draft agreement; it was just a list of issues that the US proposed to discuss. This plan could be the basis for future agreements, but each point should be considered separately.”

 

Putin announced that a US delegation would come to Moscow next week and the talks would be held in the presence of Vladimir Medinsky and representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He added that the US proposal should be translated into precise diplomatic language.

 

The Russian president called Western claims of an attack on Europe “a complete lie,” saying: “Russia has never intended to attack Europe, and we are ready to state this in writing.”

 

He stressed that recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and Donbass is one of the main axes of the negotiations with the United States, adding: “If the Ukrainian forces withdraw, we will immediately cease hostilities, but otherwise we will achieve this goal by military means.”

 

Putin also said about the situation on the ground: “3,500 Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded on the banks of the Oskil River, and the Krasnoarmeysk and Dmitrov regions are completely surrounded. Russian forces are advancing rapidly in northern Zaporizhia, and the Ukrainian front in this area is on the verge of collapse.”

 

In another part of his speech, he referred to the Abu Dhabi talks and said that Russian and Ukrainian intelligence agencies are in contact and that the presence of the US special representative at the meeting was unexpected for Moscow.

 

Putin finally questioned the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelensky, saying: “The current leader of Ukraine has lost his legitimacy by refusing to hold presidential elections.”