By Dmitry Antonov
MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about contacts with President Donald Trump’s envoys on U.S. proposals for a possible Ukrainian peace deal and Moscow will now formulate its position, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly complained that ending the Ukraine war – the deadliest in Europe since World War Two – has been the most elusive foreign policy aim of his presidency.
Ukraine and its European allies are worried that Trump could sell out Ukraine and leave European powers to foot the bill for supporting a devastated Ukraine after Russian forces took 12-17 square km (4.6-6.6 square miles) of Ukraine per day in 2025.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that envoy Kirill Dmitriev had briefed Putin on the trip to Miami for contacts with Trump’s envoys.
But Peskov refused to be drawn on Russia’s reaction to the proposals, or the exact format of the documents, saying that the Kremlin was not going to communicate via the media.
“All the main parameters of the Russian side’s position are well known to our colleagues from the United States,” Peskov told reporters.
“Now we mean to formulate our position on the basis of the information that was received by the head of state and continue our contacts in the very near future through the existing channels that are currently working.”
Putin has said in recent weeks that his conditions for peace are that Ukraine should cede the around 5,000 square km of Donbas that it still controls and that Kyiv should officially renounce its intention to join the NATO military alliance.
Asked about the format of the documents brought back to Moscow by Dmitriev from Miami, Peskov said it was not appropriate to speak to the media about it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in remarks to reporters released by his office on Wednesday, said Ukrainian and U.S. delegations had inched closer to finalising a 20-point plan at the talks over the weekend in Miami.
But Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the United States had not found common ground on demands that Ukraine cede the parts of Donbas that it still controls – or on the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is controlled by Russian forces.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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