Putin Says If Zelenskyy Wants To Restore Relations Moscow Will Welcome This

Sumaira FH Published April 22, 2021 | 09:48 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to restore relations then Moscow will welcome such a move

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2021) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to restore relations then Moscow will welcome such a move.

"If President Zelenskyy wants to start restoring relations, then we will only welcome this," Putin told reporters during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

At the same time, Putin said that Kiev made many steps that destroy its relations with Moscow.

"Recently, the current leadership of Ukraine has taken a lot of steps destroying Russian-Ukrainian relations," Putin said, adding that Kiev's decisions were related to bilateral relations, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian language.

The Russian leader also said that he is ready to host his Ukrainian counterpart in Moscow at any convenient time if he wants to discuss bilateral relations, when commenting on Zelenskyy's recent proposal to meet.

"If we are talking about the development of bilateral relations, then please, we will receive the President of Ukraine in Moscow at any convenient time," Putin said.

In addition, Putin mentioned that if Zelenskyy wants to discuss Donbas, then he needs to meet with with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) first.

"If we are talking about discussing the problems of Donbas, then, first of all, the leadership of Ukraine should meet with the leaders of the republics of the LPR and DPR, and only then discuss these issues with representatives of third countries, which in this case is Russia," Putin said.

The Russian president also mentioned that Belarus is not interfering in the settlement process in Ukraine and just "provided a platform" for negotiations. Putin added that Kiev raising the issue of relocating Donbas talks from Minsk is "an attempt to move away from talking about Donbas issue."