[1/10] Pavel Bednyakov/RIA Novosti through REUTERS
June 17 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday interrupted opening remarks by African leaders seeking to mediate in the Ukraine battle to ship a listing of the explanation why he believed a lot of their proposals have been misguided.
Putin first welcomed leaders from Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo Republic, Comoros and South Africa to the 18th-century Konstantinovsky Palace on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, stressing Russia’s dedication to the continent.
But after shows from the Comoran, Senegalese and South African leaders, he stepped in to problem the assumptions of the plan earlier than the spherical of feedback from all of the representatives might go any additional.
Putin reiterated his place that Ukraine and the West had began the battle lengthy earlier than Russia despatched its armed forces over the border in February final 12 months.
He mentioned the West, not Russia, was answerable for a pointy rise in world meals costs early final 12 months.
He informed the delegation that Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia has permitted for the previous 12 months have been doing nothing to alleviate Africa’s difficulties with excessive meals costs as a result of they’d largely gone to rich international locations.
He mentioned Russia had by no means refused talks with the Ukrainian aspect, which had been blocked by Kyiv.
The African plan features a name for all youngsters caught up in the battle to be returned to the place they got here from, however Putin mentioned Russia was not stopping any Ukrainian youngsters from returning dwelling.
“We took them out of a conflict zone, saving their lives,” he mentioned.
The African leaders are seeking settlement on a sequence of “confidence building measures” whilst Ukraine final week started a counteroffensive to push again Russian forces from Ukrainian territory they occupy.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa laid out the 10 factors of the African initiative, after Comoros President Azali Assoumani, present chairman of the African Union, informed Putin:
“We’ve come right here to hear to you, and thru you the Russian individuals, and encourage you to enter negotiations with Ukraine in order to put an finish to the tough ordeal.
“We gave ourselves this mission as a result of, as Africans, sadly, we have now had to handle quite a few conflicts, and it is via dialogue and negotiations that we have now succeeded at resolving them.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had mentioned after assembly the leaders in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks with Russia could be potential solely after Moscow withdrew its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory.
He added that he couldn’t perceive what could possibly be gained from the delegation assembly Putin.
Putin mentioned Russia was “open to constructive dialogue with anybody who desires to set up peace on the ideas of equity and acknowledgement of the reputable pursuits of the events”.
However, Russia has mentioned repeatedly that any settlement should take account of “new realities”, which means its declared annexation of 5 Ukrainian provinces, 4 of which it solely partially controls.
(This story has been corrected to repair the attribution of subsequent quotes to Assoumani, not Ramaphosa, in paragraph 11)
Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew Cawthorne
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
