Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany: Zelensky is ready for a dialogue with Putin, but Moscow rejects the “outstretched hand”

Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk is confident that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready for a direct dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. This was stated by the diplomat to Handelsblatt.

As Melnik pointed out, Zelensky “is also ready to conduct direct negotiations with President Putin at any time,” however, according to the diplomat, Moscow “rejects” the hand extended by Kiev, RIA Novosti reports.

Meanwhile, Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, told the agency that Zelensky can count on negotiations with Putin only if he returns to the Minsk agreements on a settlement in Donbass.

Meanwhile, the New York Times saw signs of a thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow. The authors of the publication made such conclusions against the backdrop of the absence of ultimatums and thanks to the so-called conciliatory tone during yesterday’s talks between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Lenta.ru notes.

The meeting took place in Geneva, and Moscow hoped that the talks would help Washington prepare a response to Russia’s proposals for security guarantees.

We also recall that back in November-December last year, the world media was filled with the topic of the alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that should follow. According to the authors and experts of these publications, a sign of “invasion” is the concentration of Russian military equipment in the regions bordering Ukraine. Among the likely sanctions are both the shutdown of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, as well as restrictions against Russian energy companies, and the shutdown of the SWIFT system of “fast” financial settlements.