Präsident Putin von Russland machte eine unerwartete Reise nach Kursk in Russland an einem Tag, als er beschuldigt wurde, Friedensgespräche mit der Ukraine zu unterdrücken.
This was his first visit to Kursk since the Russian troops pushed back Ukrainian forces from occupied parts of this region after a Ukrainian incursion last year.
State television broadcast Putin meeting with several local groups in Kursk, as well as the acting governor of the region, Alexander Khinshtein.
The Ukrainian forces started an incursion in August last year, making a bold move that had caught Russia off guard. At one point, Kiev said it controlled about 1,400 square kilometers of the region. Last month, Moscow claimed to have pushed back Ukrainian troops and ended the incursion.
Putin’s visit comes amid accusations that he is hampering peace talks to conclude the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. He is accused of doing this in an effort to gain as much territory as possible and strengthen his position in negotiations.
Last week, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held their first face-to-face talks in over three years in an attempt to stop the fighting.
However, there was little progress, which prompted US President Donald Trump to hold a telephone call with Putin on May 19, which ended with a promise from Moscow to prepare a memorandum outlining terms for a ceasefire – something many analysts and European diplomats viewed as a Kremlin tactic to hamper the process.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on May 20 that Trump has not decided to impose new sanctions on Russia, because he “believes that if we start threatening with sanctions now, Russians will stop negotiating, and it’s worth keeping the option open to talk to them.”.
The European Union and Britain have approved new packages of sanctions against Russia this week, while the EU has announced plans for a further round of “massive” sanctions.
In response, the Kremlin denied again that it was hampering the process, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that “everyone is working dynamically towards a solution” to the conflict.
Since taking office four months ago, Trump has made it a priority of his foreign policy to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. In March, he asked both sides to agree immediately on a 30-day ceasefire. He has repeated this request since then, saying that he will impose sanctions on any country that blocks the ceasefire.
Until Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accepted the White House proposal, Putin did not, requesting that Kiev accept some conditions, including recognition of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, demilitarization of the region and its neutral status.
