Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate with "everyone", including the Europeans. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by "Reuters".
Peskov's comment comes after the Financial Times reported that European Union leaders are preparing for potential negotiations. The change in the EU's position was triggered by European disappointment with the talks to end the war in Ukraine, led by US President Donald Trump.
European Council President António Costa said he believed there was "potential" The EU should negotiate with Putin and that the bloc has the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for this.
Regarding this statement, Peskov stressed that "Putin is ready to negotiate with everyone, he has repeatedly stated this".
"We will be ready to continue our dialogue as long as the Europeans are ready to do so. However, as Putin has repeatedly stated, we will not initiate such contacts after the position taken by the Europeans", the Kremlin spokesman specified.
According to Moscow, Europe should take the first step, because it was the Europeans who broke off contacts with Moscow in 2022 after the start of the war with Ukraine.
"The Russian side was not the initiator of the complete termination of our relations with the EU. This was initiated by Brussels and individual European capitals," Dmitry Peskov added.