Kremlin dismisses Zelenskyy’s letter to Putin as impolite
Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Getty Images)
The Kremlin has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open letter to Vladimir Putin is "not something polite people do," according to TASS.
Russia’s Foreign Minister commented on Zelenskyy’s public letter, which was published by the Presidential Office on June 4.
"President Putin spoke in detail about this at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, including about the large letter published the day before by Zelenskyy, which was addressed to President Putin but also distributed around the world. This is not how polite people behave,” Lavrov said.
According to him, Putin interpreted the letter as a sign that Ukraine doesn't need negotiations.
On June 4, Zelenskyy published an open letter to Putin proposing a meeting in a third country to agree on a long-term peace settlement. The President’s team understood that the Kremlin would unlikely respond constructively. However, the letter was intended for multiple audiences: Putin, Russian elites, and international partners.
On June 5, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin rejected the proposal for a meeting and responded with a series of insulting and mocking statements.
In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Putin had missed an opportunity to end his failing war, and that international pressure on Russia would only increase.
