Davos, Jan 20: President Zelensky has said he is not sure that Vladimir Putin is still alive and questioned who is actually making decisions in the Kremlin.
Speaking via videolink to the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos on Thursday morning, Zelensky was discussing the prospect of negotiating with Russia.
“I don’t quite understand whom to talk to and about what,” he said.
“I’m not sure that the Russian president who sometimes appears against a [special effects] green screen is actually the right one.
“I don’t quite understand if he is alive or whether he makes decisions or someone else makes decisions there.”
In response, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, said: “It is clear that both Russia and Putin are a big problem for Ukraine and Zelensky. And it is clear that purely psychologically, Mr. Zelensky would prefer that neither Russia nor Putin existed.”
Nevertheless, Ukraine’s president has long questioned Kremlin’s reliability as a party with whom to negotiate or make agreements.“I can’t understand how you can promise European leaders one thing and the next day launch a full-scale invasion of a country,” Zelensky reiterated at Davos.“I don’t really understand with whom we are dealing,” Zelensky said. The President has also stressed that Ukraine did everything to liberate its territories through diplomacy, however all the efforts seemed to be in vain.
Zelensky also hit out at Germany over its hesitation in supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, saying he did not think the country’s approach was “the right strategy to go with.” (AP)
