Attacking Russian society and destroying the “comfortable life” led by ordinary people is the only way to make Vladimir Putin negotiate, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has claimed.
Zelensky made the remarks in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria which aired on Sunday. Putin does not want to negotiate peace to end the conflict between the two countries, he claimed, suggesting that only popular opinion at home could pressure him to do so.
“I am sure that he is afraid of only one thing. No leaders, no countries, no anything. He is afraid of his society, the Russian people,” Zelensky asserted.
If the Russian people are in danger, if they don’t have a comfortable life, if they live without energy, like our people, they will understand the price of war. They will be not happy with it and will begin to influence him, Putin.
Moscow has in fact repeatedly expressed a readiness to negotiate over the course of the conflict. Early into the hostilities, the two sides were actually close to reaching a peace deal in Istanbul, yet the talks ended up being broken off due to pressure exerted by Ukraine’s Western backers.
Since then, Kiev has taken multiple steps to prevent the potential talks from resuming, including Zelensky explicitly prohibiting negotiations with Moscow.
Russia’s stance on negotiations, however, has shifted in the wake of the ongoing Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk Region, which was launched in early August. The attack prompted the Russian president to withdraw a ceasefire offer he had tabled earlier this year. Previously, Putin said he would support an immediate truce if Kiev agreed to certain military and political concessions.
The apparent change in Moscow’s position has been further elaborated on by other top Russian officials, including former Defense Minister and head of the Security Council, Sergey Shoigu. Last week, Shoigu accused Kiev of “top-level terrorism” over its attempts to target the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
“We did not negotiate with terrorists, are not negotiating, and will not – and that is who they are,” he stated.