Washington, March 13: A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected the US plan of ceasefire in the war against Ukraine even as US President Donald Trump’s top negotiator landed in Moscow for talks.
Yuri Ushakov, who is also on the Russian team for negotiations with the US, said on Russia’s state television that the 30-day cease-fire would allow Ukraine’s forces time to regroup.
“This is nothing other than a temporary time-out for Ukrainian soldiers, nothing more. Our goal is a long-term peaceful resolution,” he said, adding, “Steps that imitate peaceful actions are not needed”.
Ushakov said he had conveyed Moscow’s opposition to the temporary ceasefire to the US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on a phone call on Wednesday. Steve Witkoff, a longtime friend of the US President and his top negotiator, arrived in Moscow for talks on the ceasefire plan.
But the senior Kremlin aide qualified his remarks saying he had “stated my point of view” and that President Putin could make “more specific and meaningful assessments” later in the day.
In an unmistakable political message, President Putin turned up in the region of Kursk in military camouflage earlier in the day to mark advances by his military in the region. The US ceasefire plan pauses hostilities for 30 days and paves the way for a peace agreement.
Ukraine accepted it during talks between the two sides in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earlier in the week, leaving the fate of the place in the hands of Russia. “Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking, and now it will be up to them to say yes or no,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after the meeting with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, referring to Russia.
“I hope they’re going to say yes, and if they do, then I think we’ve made great progress. If they say no, then we will, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here.” There has been no response from the White House to the Kremlin aide’s remarks.
IANS