"The troops of Ukraine will withdraw from the occupied territories — the fighting will cease"

The status of Crimea and Donbas will become one of the key topics for Russia in negotiations with the United States on a peaceful settlement. Vladimir Putin stated this on November 27 at a press conference following a state visit to Bishkek. Moscow generally agrees that the 28 points of the peace plan for Ukraine proposed by the United States can be used as the basis for future agreements, but "every word of it" needs to be seriously discussed. To do this, American representatives will arrive in Moscow next week, the president confirmed. The negotiators from Russia will be Sergey Lavrov, Yuri Ushakov and Vladimir Medinsky, and from the United States, probably, the special envoy of the president Steve Witkoff. Separately, Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia would raise the issue of nuclear tests with the United States. What Vladimir Putin said about the scandal with the "leaked" conversations of diplomats and whether Moscow's return to the G8 should be expected — in the Izvestia article.

How does Putin assess Trump's peace plan for Ukraine

Vladimir Putin's three-day visit to Bishkek ended with an hour-long meeting with journalists. The Head of State summed up the meetings with the leadership of Kyrgyzstan and at the CSTO summit. However, the focus was on the most condemned topic of the last week — Donald Trump's peace plan to resolve the situation in Ukraine. It is still not known for certain what the document looks like and what is included in it. The number of points of the plan in media publications is constantly changing.

— Negotiations took place in Geneva between the American delegation and the Ukrainian delegation (November 23. — Ed.). And, as I understand it, they decided among themselves that the 28 points should be divided into four separate components. And it was all handed over to us. In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements. But it would be rude of me to talk about any final options now, because there are none," Vladimir Putin said.

Russia got acquainted with the initial US plan for the Ukrainian settlement before its visit to Alaska, Vladimir Putin recalled. At the same time, he called the recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and Donbas one of the key points.

According to the plan, the contents of which became known to the media, the United States and other countries will have to recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, Donbas and other territories. However, the American side is ready to recognize Crimea and Donbass as Russian "de facto, but not "de jure." In return, Kiev should receive security guarantees. A demilitarized zone will appear in the areas from which Ukrainian troops will be withdrawn. At the same time, when asked if he was ready to postpone the issue of the status of Donbass, Vladimir Putin replied unequivocally: "We are still receiving calls for the cessation of hostilities there, there, there. The Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the territories they occupy, and then the fighting will cease," he stressed.

— Some things are of a fundamental nature, and in general we see that the American side takes into account our position, which was discussed before Anchorage and after Alaska. We definitely need to sit down somewhere and seriously discuss some specific things," the president added.

According to him, every word of the peace plan for Ukraine "needs to be sat down and seriously discussed." Russia is ready to discuss issues of European security and strategic stability with the West, as well as to fix the lack of intention to attack Europe, which is also contained in the peace plan, the president said. At the same time, they must be put "in a diplomatic language."

— Ukraine is in an increasingly desperate situation: the number of corruption scandals is growing, the legitimacy of the government is declining, and Russia is gaining more and more points in this war. In addition, Ukraine is suffering from an acute shortage of personnel and is running out of people capable of serving in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, the American public is tired of this conflict and does not want to continue spending billions of dollars on a hopeless cause. Therefore, there is hope that the United States and Ukraine will make concessions to Russia, the negotiations will be productive, and the fighting will end soon," American political analyst Jeremy Kuzmarov told Izvestia.

What Putin said about Witkoff and the Abu Dhabi talks

For the first time, Vladimir Putin commented on one of the most sensitive topics of this week, the appearance in the media of transcripts of negotiations between Russian and American diplomats. However, the head of state did not disclose whether the leaked conversations between Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev with the US president's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was then once again accused of excessive sympathy for Russia, were genuine.

— Then, some of them, maybe, as our children joke, were put to peek, and they eavesdrop. Let them do their own thing," the president jokingly said, adding that "you have to be able to peek."

Putin stressed that in Russia such leaks would entail criminal punishment, and even supported Witkoff. According to the head of the Russian Federation, those who criticize him want to steal money together with Kiev and fight to the last Ukrainian.

At the same time, the president confirmed other information. The special services of Russia and Ukraine have always been in contact with each other, "even in the most difficult times," the president noted, commenting on the news of the recent talks in Abu Dhabi. First of all, it concerns the exchange of prisoners of war. However, he called the unexpected appearance in the Emirati capital of a U.S. representative who came to such a meeting.

All these leaks did not seem to have any effect on further Russian-American contacts. Next week, Moscow is expecting a US delegation, and, apparently, led by Witkoff. On behalf of the Russian Federation, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is likely to be at the talks, who, the president assured, has not fallen into any disgrace, as numerous media outlets have recently hyped.

In addition, Vladimir Putin did not rule out a possible visit to Russia by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The agenda of negotiations with representatives of the United States is expected to be serious: in particular, Russia will raise the issue related to the preparation of nuclear tests.

— Now this is an important and relevant topic due to the intention of the United States to resume nuclear testing. Russia is ready to listen to the US position, because it was the White House that recently took the initiative to start a dialogue on this issue. Perhaps at the upcoming meeting, the parties will discuss previously announced politically binding agreements on compliance with the START-3 ceiling limits for a specified period. They may make it possible to avoid a contractual and legal vacuum in the field of nuclear arms control after the termination of the treaty in February 2026," said Vasily Klimov, a researcher at the IMEMO RAS Center for International Security.

Vladimir Putin noted that Russia cannot find itself in a situation where the United States is already conducting tests, and the Russian forces have not yet begun retaliatory measures. "I have instructed you to collect additional information about the actions of the American side, analyze it and submit proposals to me on what we should do in this situation," the president said.

The EU's role in the negotiation arena

Vladimir Putin allowed the possibility of contacts with the G7 on the implementation of the US peace plan. Earlier, the American leader called Russia's exclusion from the G8 a mistake, noting that perhaps this would have prevented the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin said that he did not really understand how in the current situation Russia could interact directly with the G7 countries — Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France and Japan.

— In today's situation, I don't really imagine how we will interact with them directly. Can you imagine that? Here we are, "hello," and what: are we going to scowl at each other? — said Putin.

On the same day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Russia as a whole does not see Europe at the negotiating table on Ukraine: it is enough to recall the history of European mediation and the well-known Minsk agreements, when Germany and France acted as guarantors.

In this context, the press conference recalled the latest attempts to confiscate Russian assets abroad. For example, EU countries have recently been actively discussing the allocation of a new loan to Kiev for 140 billion euros at the expense of frozen Russian assets. Vladimir Putin warned that the Russian government is developing a package of retaliatory measures in case of confiscation of Russian assets in Europe and spoke about the risks for the EU countries themselves.

— It is clear that this will have negative consequences for the global financial system. Because confidence in the eurozone will plummet, plummet. And against the background of difficulties in the economy, where the locomotive of the European economy, the German economy, has been in recession for the third year, this, of course, will be, it seems to me, a difficult test," the president said.

In general, Russia does not refuse contacts in the G7 format and is open to interaction, but there have been no invitations, Vladimir Putin noted. Vladimir Putin pointed out that even before the 2014 Ukrainian crisis, he stopped going to G8 summits.

— Please note that even before the tragic events in the Ukrainian direction began, I somehow stopped going [to the G8 summits]. Haven't you noticed? Therefore, when the events in Ukraine began, we were told that we were not waiting for you there... Well, thank God," the head of state said, answering a question about the prospects of returning to the G8.

Collapse of the APU front

The President stressed that the West is trying to accelerate the process of reaching peace agreements, which, in his opinion, is related to the current situation on the line of contact. Recall that on November 20, Vladimir Putin visited one of the command posts of the Zapad group. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported to the Russian leader that the troops had liberated Kupyansk, an important logistics center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the north of the combat zone. Since the beginning of the month, more than 230 square kilometers of territory and 13 settlements have returned to Russian control.

Speaking about specific areas, Vladimir Putin noted that the main events in the Center group's area of responsibility were unfolding near Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov, which were completely surrounded by Russian troops. The President said that about 70% of the territory of Krasnoarmeysk is already under the control of Russian forces, and in Dimitrov the enemy has been dissected, and formations are moving to its systematic destruction.

— And then what? Look at the map, take a look at the map to the northeast, Komsomolsk is further away. And to the north of Komsomolsk — Kupyansk, Slavyansk and a little to the northeast — Seversk. In Komsomolsk, fighting is going on inside the city, and a significant number of buildings have already been liberated by our troops, and progress is continuing," the president said at a press conference.

Vladimir Putin recalled that in the Kharkov direction, the Russian army has established almost complete control over Volchansk. According to the president, despite the strength of the defense in the Zaporizhia region, the Dnepr group is breaking through it in some areas. At the same time, the Vostok group, as he noted, has already "broken through" the Ukrainian defenses in the north of the Zaporizhia region and is rapidly advancing towards Gulyai-Pole, bypassing the fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the north, which may lead to the collapse of the front.

"If everything that happened in Kupyansk continues to happen in the areas I have just mentioned, then the collapse of the front will be inevitable," the president added.

Understanding this makes some Western politicians insist on an early cessation of hostilities, even if it requires concessions from Kiev, he said. The other part, according to him, advocates the continuation of hostilities "to the last Ukrainian."