Putin is silent. What Russia says on 30-day truce

Putin is still expected to respond to the US proposal for a 30-day truce in Ukraine. Kyiv has agreed to it, but on the condition that Moscow also takes a similar step.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that Putin may speak out on Ukraine today at a press conference following his meeting with Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko.

“Everything will depend on the questions of journalists,” Peskov said.

Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Moscow will consider Washington's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

However, according to him, it will be possible to talk about the end of hostilities after a comprehensive peace agreement is reached. Kelin argues that a temporary ceasefire is not an option to resolve the situation and that Russia has repeatedly stated this.

Kelin said the Russian side has expressed skepticism about any peace talks, insisting that it will take time to reach a lasting agreement, adding that Russia is approaching the US initiative with great caution.

Meanwhile, Reuters, citing unnamed American and Russian officials, writes that Moscow has presented Washington with a list of demands for an agreement to end the war against Ukraine and reset relations with the United States.

However, as the news agency notes, it is unclear what exactly Moscow has included in its list and whether it is ready to hold peace talks with Kyiv before they are accepted. According to the sources, Russian and American officials have been discussing the terms in face-to-face and virtual conversations over the past three weeks.

The sources described the Kremlin's conditions as broad and similar to the demands it has previously made of Ukraine, the United States, and NATO. They include Ukraine's renunciation of NATO membership, the non-deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine, and international recognition of Ukrainian territories occupied by the aggressor as Russian, as well as the elimination of the so-called root causes of the war, including the non-expansion of NATO to the east.

Earlier, The Washington Post reported on a document that a think tank close to the FSB prepared for the Kremlin in February. The document, which was intercepted in the intelligence of a European country, rejects US President Donald Trump's plans to end the war within 100 days as unrealizable.

The document says that peaceful resolution of Russia's invasion of Ukraine cannot happen before 2026.

The document, obtained by journalists, also rejects plans to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, contains an indication of the recognition of Russia's sovereignty over the seized Ukrainian territory, and calls for the creation of a so-called buffer zone in northeastern Ukraine on the border with such Russian regions as Bryansk and Belgorod, as well as a demilitarized zone in southern Ukraine near Crimea, which Russia occupied in 2014, which will affect the Odesa region, according to WP.

The document also refers to the need for the so-called complete dismantling of the current Ukrainian government.

Instead, Peskov told that the Kremlin allegedly does not know about such recommendations and called them extremely controversial, adding that Moscow is working on more balanced options.

On Tuesday, March 11, the delegations of the United States and Ukraine held talks in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), during which Kyiv accepted Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire if Russia agreed to it.

Immediately afterward, the United States resumed military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the US delegation to the Jeddah talks, said that the United States would now pass on the truce proposal to Russia. This will be done through the US President's Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who is expected to arrive in Moscow today.

Sources: Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, RIA Novosti and TASS.