Putin secretly signals through intermediaries of willingness to freeze war - media

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sending signals through intermediaries since September that he is open to a ceasefire that would put the Russo-Ukrainian war on "freeze" along the existing lines of contact.

That’s according to The New York Times, Ukrinform reports.

The say they are ready to negotiate a ceasefire. They want to stay where they are on the battlefield, according to a senior international official who met with senior Russian officials this fall.

In fact, Putin also signaled readiness for a cease-fire agreement a year earlier, in the fall of 2022, according to U.S. officials.

The previously unreported initiative comes after Ukraine defeated the Russian army in the country's northeast.

Sources add that then Putin made it clear that he was satisfied with the already captured territory and ready for a truce.

Some U.S. officials believe this may be a familiar Kremlin attempt to mislead the world and does not reflect Putin's genuine willingness to compromise.

In response to journalists' requests to comment on the news, Putin's press secretary Dmitriy Peskov said that conceptually, these theses are incorrect.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine cannot afford the weakness of agreeing to have the conflict with Russia frozen, as this would mean that the young generation will have to fight with Russia in the future.

Photo: epa.eu