Russia ready for ‘rational compromise’ with Ukraine – Putin

Moscow remains willing to negotiate a resolution of the Ukraine conflict, in which both sides would make compromises, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Putin was asked how his government envisioned the end of the hostilities with Ukraine during a late night interview on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, which Russian media released on Friday morning.

“Any outcome should be favorable to Russia, and I say that directly,” he said. That said, Moscow does not rule out compromises on its part as long as they are “rational,” the Russian leader added. Unfortunately, Ukraine’s unwillingness to negotiate renders moot any discussions of what Moscow would be willing to offer.

Putin said Moscow had recently received a proposal from Ankara to discuss a possible deal, which an aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said was coming from Kiev.

“We agreed to it, and the next day [Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky] publicly announced that he will not negotiate anything,” the president said. “This is irrational behavior, which is hard to predict. No plans can be based on this foundation. So there is no sense in discussing whether we would reach an agreement and what it would be,” Putin explained.

The remarks came as a follow-up to a long press conference that Putin gave on the final day of the BRICS gathering, during which he mentioned communications with an unnamed Turkish official and Kiev’s apparent U-turn on it. The message was relayed by Ibrahim Kalin, who currently heads the Turkish intelligence service MIT, Putin revealed in the interview.