The Kremlin said Monday that it has received no further details from the White House about its latest peace proposal following talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Geneva, but added it would wait to see how discussions evolve before offering a response.
“We haven’t yet received any kind of information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We’ve been closely following the multitude of media reports in recent days, including those from Geneva, but nothing has officially been sent to us.”
The United States and Ukraine issued a joint statement following their meeting in Switzerland on Sunday, saying officials had “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” based on a 28-point plan that leaked last week and was later confirmed by the White House.
According to the statement, Ukrainian and U.S. officials agreed to continue “intensive work” on joint proposals in the coming days. Many in Ukraine had dismissed the original plan as capitulation since it acceded to several of the Kremlin’s longstanding demands.
“We read a statement that, following the discussions in Geneva, some amendments had been made to the text which we had seen earlier. We’ll wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” Peskov said on Monday.
European leaders, blindsided by Washington’s latest peace push, hastily drew up their own 28-point counterproposal that was released Sunday. EU leaders are expected to discuss it at emergency Ukraine talks on the sidelines of a summit in Angola later Monday.
Peskov said no meetings between Russian and American officials were planned this week but noted that President Vladimir Putin remained open to talks with Washington.
He declined to comment on the contents of the U.S. or European proposals, citing the complexity of ongoing negotiations.
“This is too important and complex an issue to be guided solely by media reports. It’s necessary to rely on information obtained through official channels,” Peskov said.
Putin said Friday that U.S. proposals for peace in Ukraine could serve as a basis for a future agreement to end the war, which is now nearing its four-year anniversary, but warned the Russian military would seize more Ukrainian territory if Kyiv rejected the plan.
AFP contributed reporting.
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