Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky can participate in possible talks with Moscow if he wishes to, but he lacks the legitimacy to actually sign a peace deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Tuesday.
Negotiating with the de-facto Ukrainian leadership will not have any legal meaning, given that Kiev explicitly banned itself from engaging in talks with Moscow, according to Putin.
In 2022, Zelensky, whose presidential term officially ended in May 2024, issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with Russia, and President Vladimir Putin specifically, a measure that remains in effect. Last week, Zelensky claimed the ban applies to all Ukrainian officials except himself, although the original decree did not specify a list of entities barred from talking to Russia, stating only that such negotiations were “impossible.”
“If we start negotiations now, they will be illegitimate… Because when the current head of the regime, that’s the only way to call [Zelensky] today, signed this decree, he was a somewhat legitimate president. But now he can’t cancel it, because he is illegitimate. That’s the trick, the catch, the trap,” Putin explained.
Asked whether Moscow would actually talk to Zelensky if he expresses the desire to do so, Putin said the Ukrainian leader lacks any authority to actually strike any sort of deal with Russia.
“It’s possible to negotiate with anyone. However, due to his illegitimacy, [Zelensky] has no right to sign anything. If he wishes to participate in talks, I will deploy people who will conduct such negotiations,” Putin said. He stressed that signing any deal would be a “very serious question” and the agreement must “guarantee the security of both Ukraine and Russia” for a “serious” period of time.
Any potential peace agreement must be flawless from the legal standpoint, Putin emphasized, adding that the authority and legitimacy of Kiev’s negotiating team would be subjected to intense scrutiny and assessed by a whole team of legal experts.
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