War in Ukraine: Putin does not want to meet with Selenskyj abroad

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rejected the demand for a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Wolodymyr Selenskyj at a negotiating place abroad. If Selenskyj wants to meet him, but at the same time demands him to travel somewhere, then that is too much, Putin said at the Wladiwostok Economic Forum. “The best place for this (for a meeting) is the capital of the Russian Federation, the heroic city of Moscow,” he said. Selenskyj had previously rejected a meeting in Moscow.

According to Ukrainian information, there are seven countries that are ready to carry out a summit. Putin insisted in Wladiwostok on the negotiation location Moscow proposed by him when he visited China. The security of the guests is guaranteed 100 percent, he said.

Discussions in Moscow would further strengthen the negotiating position of the Kremlin, which continues to see itself at the front, through the home advantage.

At the same time, Putin once again doubted the sense of such conversations between him and Selenskyj by once again questioning the legitimacy of the Ukrainian President. His term in office officially expired in the previous year, but is extended because of the law of war.

Putin claimed that results could not bring negotiations with Selenskyj because he no longer had legal powers to sign anything. Ukrainian war law stipulates that no elections are held during the war and the president’s powers are therefore extended. Putin started his war against Ukraine in February 2022.