Ukraine War: Putin demands recognition of annexed territories before talks

Russia has said for any peace talk to hold, the West must recognize ‘new territories’ seized from Ukraine.

BBC reported that this is coming after US President, Joe Biden indicated that he would be ready to meet Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

“If in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he’s looking for a way to end the war”, President Biden told reporters.

Moscow said it was open to negotiations, but not on the West’s demand to pull out of Ukraine.

It was also reported that, on Friday, German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz has spoken to President Vladimir Putin for the first time since September, where during the hour-long engagement, Berlin said the German leader had urged his counterpart to find a diplomatic solution that involved pulling Russian troops out of Ukraine “as soon as possible”.

In its response, Kremlin said Putin had also urged Berlin to “reconsider its approaches in the context of the Ukrainian events”.

Recall that the West is accusing Russia of waging war on Ukraine as well as illegally annexing four of its regions