- Putin takes an aggressive tone but hints at the opportunity for diplomacy
- The head of the Kremlin dares the West to try to defeat Russia on the battlefield
- Sanctions that cause problems but not on a planned scale, he says
LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had barely started in Ukraine and dared the West to try to defeat it on the battlefield, while insisting that Moscow was still open to idea of peace conversations.
In a hawkish speech to parliamentary leaders more than four months after the war, Putin said the prospects for any negotiations would darken as the conflict drags on.
“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try,” he said.
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“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight with us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is moving towards that.”
Russia accuses the West of waging a power war against it by hammering its economy with sanctions and increasing the supply of advanced weapons to Ukraine.
But while boasting that Russia was getting in the way, Putin also referred to the possibility of negotiations.
“Everyone should know that, in general, we haven’t really started anything yet,” he added. “At the same time, we do not reject peace talks. But those who reject them should know that the more they go, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”
It was the first reference to diplomacy in many weeks after repeated statements by Moscow that negotiations with Kyiv had completely broken down.
Since invading Ukraine on February 24, Russian forces have captured large tracts of the country, including the conquest of the eastern Luhansk region last Sunday.
But their progress has been much slower than many analysts predict, and they were rejected in the first attempts to take the capital, Kyiv, and the second city, Kharkiv.
The prospect of compromise seems remote, as Ukraine, emboldened by Western support and the heavy losses it has inflicted on its opponent in both men and equipment, has spoken of expelling Russia from all the territory it has seized.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter this week that his conditions for resuming talks would include: “A ceasefire. Withdrawal of Z troops. Return of abducted citizens. Extradition of war criminals. Reparation mechanism. Recognition of the sovereign rights of Ukraine “.
Putin said it was obvious that Western sanctions were creating difficulties, “but not at all what the initiators of the economic flash war against Russia were counting on.”
Parliamentary leaders responded to Putin’s comments, and one, Sergei Mironov, of the Just Russia party, encouraged him to set up a special agency to facilitate the integration of the occupied Ukrainian territories into Russia, an idea Putin promised to discuss.
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Additional report by Ronald Popeski; Edited by Leslie Adler
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