In his April 25 meeting at the Kremlin with President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow is prepared for unconditional talks with Kiev at any time. This was announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a briefing to reporters on April 26.
“During yesterday’s conversation with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that the Russian side is ready to resume the negotiation process with Ukraine without any preconditions,” Peskov stated. This is not a change in Russian policy, which has been in favor of unconditional talks all along, while noting that Zelenskyy is not legally empowered to sign any binding agreements because he is no longer the legitimate President of Ukraine, since he failed to call elections as required by the Ukrainian Constitution. It has been Kiev that has so far demanded unacceptable preconditions before sitting down to talk.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev also took part in the meeting with Witkoff. Ushakov described the three-hour conversation as “constructive and very useful in nature. The conversation allowed us to further align the Russian and U.S. positions not only on Ukraine, but also on a number of other international issues.”
