Putin gives Zelensky conditions before he can meet Ukrainian leader in Turkey

Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out several issues to achieve a ceasefire with Ukraine in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Thursday, according to a Turkish presidential spokesperson.

Erdoğan offered to bring both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Turkey to facilitate negotiations to end the war, Turkish presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalin said in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet published Saturday.

Kalin said while Zelensky was ready to meet, Putin laid out issues to be resolved before any leadership-level negotiations could take place.

“The first is Ukraine’s neutrality, that is, its renounce from NATO membership. Second, disarmament and mutual security guarantees in the context of the Austrian model. Third, the process that the Russian side refers to as ‘de-Nazification’. Fourth, removing obstacles to the widespread use of Russian language in Ukraine. It is understood that some progress has been made in the first four articles of the ongoing negotiations. It is too early to say that there is full agreement or that an agreement is about to be signed,” Kalin told the newspaper.

Putin and other government officials have repeatedly made false accusations toward Ukraine as their motivations for the invasion, baselessly saying the country must “denazify.”

Kalin added Putin made two more demands that were “the most difficult issues,” one being the recognition of the annexation of Crimea and the two “so-called” republics in Donbas. Kalin said these final two issues “are not acceptable demands for Ukraine and the international community.”

“If a point is reached in the first four articles and an agreement is reached, there can be a discussion at the leaders’ level regarding the fifth and sixth articles,” Kalin said in the interview, adding if the negotiations take place, “it may be possible to reach an agreement and end the war.”

Kalin said Erdoğan urged to Putin that the ceasefire must be made permanent. Turkey’s Directorate of Communications said Thursday that Erdoğan offered to host both presidents in either Istanbul or Ankara, saying “consensus on some issues may require talks at leadership level.”

CNN