Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s peace proposals in Ukraine as “propaganda”, which urged Kiev to withdraw its forces from four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow and abandon joining NATO.
“It does not seem to me particularly useful, as a negotiating proposal, to tell Ukraine that it should withdraw from Ukraine,” Meloni said at the closing press conference of the G7 summit held in southern Italy.
“It seems…
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s peace proposals in Ukraine as “propaganda”, which urged Kiev to withdraw its forces from four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow and abandon joining NATO.
“It does not seem to me particularly useful, as a negotiating proposal, to tell Ukraine that it should withdraw from Ukraine,” Meloni said at the closing press conference of the G7 summit held in southern Italy.
He added: “It looks like a propaganda initiative.”
The head of the German government, Chancellor Olaf Schulz, had stated shortly before on the ARD channel that the Russian demands were equivalent to “dictating” peace.
On Friday, Putin demanded that Kiev effectively surrender before any negotiations.
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In a televised speech, the Kremlin leader said he would order a ceasefire and begin negotiations “as soon as” Kiev begins withdrawing its forces from disputed regions in eastern and southern Ukraine and renounces its NATO membership.
Meloni and Schultz’s statements coincide with the launch of the first summit on peace in Ukraine in Switzerland, in which Ukraine participates without Russia.
The head of Zelensky’s presidential team, Andrei Yermak, indicated the possibility of organizing a second peace conference that Russia could attend, in which a “joint plan” prepared by the participants in this first summit would be presented.
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