Russian President Vladimir Putin, in reply to a question put to him during the June 5 plenary session of the 29th St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) by Indian journalist Geeta Mohan, characterized the letter of acting President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky as not creating the kind of atmosphere conducive to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict, or the personal meeting with Putin which Zelensky continues to demand. As if to underscore the point, the day following Putin’s remarks, the Kiev regime launched its second drone attack in three days on St. Petersburg, just ahead of the final day of SPIEF. Russian air defenses downed more than 140 drones, Leningrad Region Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on social media, reported RT. No casualties or major infrastructure damage were immediately reported.
Putin recalled that about three weeks ago, a representative of the Russian business community informed him that he had been invited to Kiev for a discussion he expected would likely involve issues pertinent to Russia-Ukraine relations. Putin advised the businessman he could not stop him from going but nor could he dispatch him in any official capacity. The businessman traveled to Kiev, met with Zelensky, returned to Moscow and reported back to Putin. “Amidst the less substantive elements, the salient point was this: Mr Zelensky was requesting a meeting,” Putin said. “I remarked: ‘I have never declined such requests.’ However, to convene merely for the sake of empty dialogue, as we say—I am well familiar with that.” Putin was referring to his participating in the marathon negotiating sessions that produced the Minsk agreements, only to learn later from the French and German leaders that the only purpose of the Minsk agreements was to buy time for the rearmament of Ukraine. “What need do we have for such agreements?”
“Thus,” Putin continued, “I stated: ‘I see no merit in such a meeting.’ The sole objective, from the Ukrainian perspective, is to impede the progress of our Armed Forces, nothing more. We require agreements that endure not for mere months, not for half a year, but for a significant historical period. Let the specialists deliberate, devise solutions, and only thereafter can we convene, attend—as I have mentioned—the signing of pertinent documents, or even append our signatures ourselves. However, a solution must first be formulated.”
Then Putin came to what he called “the most critical point, which the audience, particularly the Russian audience will comprehend.” The report-back had occurred on May 21, “and on May 22, Ukrainian forces executed the heinous terrorist attack on a college dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic, resulting in the tragic loss of children, adolescents. This constitutes a grievous crime. There were no military installations nearby, nor were there any military vehicles in the vicinity.”
