Step at the meeting: Putin announced his intention to end the conflict with Kiev peacefully

The negotiators of Russia and Ukraine are in touch and are already discussing a new meeting that may take place after June 22: Kiev should hurry to reach agreements with Moscow in Istanbul before the situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces gets even worse. Vladimir Putin said this on June 18 at a meeting with the heads of the world's leading news agencies at SPIEF 2025. Moscow also wants to end the conflict as soon as possible, preferably peacefully. Vladimir Putin also stated his readiness to meet with Vladimir Zelensky at "some final stage," but the question of the signatories of the peace document from Kiev remains open. Other topics include the escalation in the Middle East, where Russia is ready to ensure Iran's interests in the field of peaceful nuclear energy, while addressing Israel's security concerns. Traditionally, the CIS countries and a number of Asian states remain important partners for Moscow. What language Vladimir Putin's granddaughter speaks fluently and where German tanks were spotted is in the Izvestia article.

Media from which countries were at the meeting with Vladimir Putin

One of the largest business events in the world, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, has started in St. Petersburg. About 20,000 representatives from 140 countries gathered at the 28th SPIEF, where participants will conclude million-dollar deals, discuss new private and public projects, and hold more than one series of business meetings. Traditionally, the head of state has big plans for these days in the Northern Capital.

This time, the main event of the launch day is a meeting with representatives of global news agencies. It ended after midnight. Before that, Vladimir Putin managed to work in the Strelna at the Konstantinovsky Palace. There, he held an economic meeting, where he called the SPIEF platform an increasingly significant one for the Russian Federation and foreign partners, and also met with Dilma Rousseff, head of the New BRICS Development Bank, to discuss the creation of a BRICS digital settlement and investment platform.

Representatives of 14 international news agencies, including from the UK, Germany, China, the USA, France, Turkey, as well as from the CIS countries, gathered to ask the president their question. Vladimir Putin traditionally meets with the heads of foreign media at the SPIEF. Last year, the conversation lasted more than three hours, and this time — about two. Obviously, the head of state spent almost half of the time answering questions about the Ukrainian crisis.

Putin again explained in detail the reasons for the start of the special operation: from the events of 2014, the Minsk agreements, the eight-year wait on the part of the Russian Federation to the Istanbul negotiations in 2022, which almost led to an agreement, and their disruption.

— I was a participant in the negotiations in Minsk when we were looking for the principles of a peaceful settlement, and we talked for 17 hours straight, all night. Yes, we have agreed on these principles, but they have not been implemented by the Western side. The former chancellor said that it was just necessary to buy time in order to arm Ukraine. She said it publicly, no one forced her to. The same was confirmed by the former President of France. They said that, you know? In other words, it turned out that our so—called Western partners were not going to do anything," the president recalled.

Nevertheless, Russia wants to end the conflict in Ukraine "as soon as possible" and preferably peacefully, the head of state said. Meanwhile, the number of deserters in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is growing strongly, and Kiev's losses on the battlefield exceed the level of mobilization. The Ukrainian armed forces are staffed by 47%, meanwhile, the Russian army has a strategic advantage in all directions in the combat zone and is advancing along the entire front line every day, Putin said. If Ukraine does not reach an agreement with the Russian Federation in Istanbul now, the situation for it will change for the worse: "there is no need to delay, we must sit down and negotiate," the president urged.

When can the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev continue?

The negotiating groups of Russia and Ukraine are currently in contact: Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russian delegation, spoke with a counter-partner from Kiev on June 18, Vladimir Putin said. According to him, the parties agree to hold the next round after June 22. The Russian president said that as a result, he is even ready to meet with Vladimir Zelensky, but the question again is who will sign the documents. Putin has repeatedly said that the only legitimate government in Ukraine remains the Verkhovna Rada and its speaker.

"Why am I saying this?" We don't care who is negotiating, even if it is the current head of the regime. I'm even ready to meet, but if it's going to be some kind of final stage, so that we don't have to sit there and endlessly divide something, but put an end to it. But the point needs to be made — the signature must be from the legitimate authorities, otherwise, you know, the next one will come and throw it all in the trash. But it is also impossible, we are solving serious issues," said Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin's readiness for this meeting indicates that Moscow continues to keep the door open for diplomacy, said Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies. However, it is explicitly emphasized that if such a meeting takes place, nothing will be signed at it: in this regard, the holding of elections in Ukraine will be a determining factor for the approval and implementation of new agreements.

The first round of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in three years took place on May 16 in Istanbul, and the second on June 2. First, Russia and Ukraine agreed to present their vision of a possible cease-fire and conduct a prisoner exchange. The result of the second meeting was an agreement on another exchange of prisoners and also the bodies of the dead. The Russian side has already handed over more than 6 thousand bodies of Ukrainian servicemen to Ukraine and is ready to give about 3 thousand more. "These, I repeat, are sad, tragic figures. Nevertheless, it is something of a humanitarian nature. After all, the negotiations in Istanbul are a positive result," Putin stressed.

Regarding the topic of Ukraine and the accusations by a representative of the American media that Russia allegedly destroyed residential areas in Kiev, the president said that the strike had been carried out on objects of the military-industrial complex. He recalled that one of the goals of the special military operation in Ukraine is demilitarization, depriving it of the opportunity to have armed forces threatening Russia. "Of course, if we do not reach a peaceful agreement, we will achieve our goals militarily," he concluded.

What is the main problem in relations between Russia and the EU

The German journalist was interested in the prospects of contacts with the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said earlier that he could imagine the possibility of holding telephone talks with the Russian leader in the context of Ukraine. The Head of State stressed that if the federal Chancellor wants to call him, he can do so — Russia never refuses contacts and is always open to this.

At the same time, Vladimir Putin doubts Germany's ability to make a greater contribution to the negotiation process on Ukraine than the United States, since "the mediator must be neutral." By the way, the Russian president even agreed with Donald Trump's thesis that if he had been president of the United States during his previous term, the special operation would not have begun. Putin believes that a personal meeting with the American leader would be useful, but preparatory work needs to be done. And Russia sees Germany as a side supporting Ukraine, and in some cases as an accomplice in the fighting. According to the president, German tanks were in the Kursk region, which Germany recognizes as part of the Russian Federation. The same applies to the possible use of the Taurus, a high—precision weapon that the Ukrainian military is unable to control.

— Only German officers will be able to operate the Taurus. What does it mean? That the Bundeswehr soldiers will strike at Russian territory with German weapons? And what is it like not to involve the Federal Republic in a direct armed conflict with the Russian Federation? It's impossible to call it anything else," the president said, stressing that the Taurus missiles would not stop the advance of the Russian army in a special operation.

He also spoke about relations with the EU as a whole. According to him, throughout history, the West has been acutely aware of the danger from Russia. On the basis of an imaginary threat from the East, Western elites "extorted money from taxpayers" and explained their own mistakes in the field of economics. According to the president, today this story has turned into a legend that Russia is going to attack the countries of NATO and Europe. "This is the most incredible lie that the population of Western European countries is trying to believe," Putin stressed. Today, NATO spends $1.4 trillion on weapons, which is much more than all countries in the world, including Russia and China.

Vladimir Putin noted that any actions of the alliance create certain problems for the country's security, but Moscow can resolve them. "We do not consider any NATO rearmament to be a threat to the Russian Federation, because we are self—sufficient in terms of ensuring our security and we are constantly improving our Armed Forces and our defensive capabilities," he stressed.

How does Russia see the resolution of the conflict in the Middle East

A considerable number of questions related to the escalated situation in the Middle East. On the night of June 13, Israel launched an operation against Iran, accusing it of implementing a secret military nuclear program. The targets of aerial bombardments and raids by sabotage groups were, in particular, nuclear facilities. Israel and Iran exchange blows several times a day. Earlier, the Prime Minister of the Jewish state, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that 80% of the Iranian population allegedly wanted to overthrow the current government, it is very weak. A British Reuters journalist asked if Vladimir Putin agrees with this assessment.

But Moscow sees the opposite — in Iran, "despite all the complexity of political processes, society is consolidating around the country's leadership," Vladimir Putin is sure. He also said that despite the Israeli missile strikes, "these underground factories exist, nothing has happened to them."

Speaking about the conflict, the president called it necessary to ensure Iran's right to peaceful energy and Israel's right to unconditional security. Russia is ready to ensure the interests of Iran, while removing the concerns of the Jewish state.

— It seems to me, bearing in mind Iran's plans to continue using and developing peaceful nuclear energy, it also applies in the field of agriculture, medicine, and so on, but this is not nuclear energy, and we could work with Iran in nuclear energy — why do I think so, because of the level of trust There is a fairly high level between our countries, we have very good relations with Iran — we could continue this work and ensure their interests in this area," Vladimir Putin said.

Nevertheless, Tehran is not asking Moscow for military assistance, he said. Russia had previously offered Iran to work in the field of air defense systems, but then the partners did not show much interest. According to orientalist Leonid Tsukanov, it is quite possible to implement the Russian initiative: for Israel, the satisfactory result would be not so much complete destruction as damage to the Iranian nuclear circuit and missile program, and for the Islamic Republic to end hostilities without being defeated and remain in the negotiation process with the United States and other parties to the first nuclear deal.

— In general, according to the results of this confrontation, Tehran may well say that it alone "restrained the aggression" of the oponent and demonstrated the self-sufficiency of its military-industrial complex. But the key difficulty here is to achieve a cease—fire. So far, neither side is ready to stop the fighting of the first, citing the lack of guarantees of the second," the expert explained.

Development of Russia's relations with Asia and the CIS

Journalists from Vietnam and China were more interested in bilateral relations with the Russian Federation. Thus, Moscow and Hanoi have many joint projects, including in the energy sector and in the field of hydrocarbons. Russia will also continue to create all the conditions for Vietnamese entrepreneurs to feel confident. In a conversation with a journalist from Xinhua, the head of state said that the Russian Federation is becoming an increasingly prominent partner for China — only investment projects with the republic are planned for $ 200 billion. Moreover, there is a growing interest in the Chinese language in the country.

— When I mentioned that some of my close people and relatives are learning Chinese, I mentioned my granddaughter, who has a teacher from Beijing, and she speaks Chinese fluently with her. But my daughter, back in the early 2000s, before all the significant and well-known events, began to study Chinese proactively, simply because she wanted to: she took a teacher and studied," the president shared.

Indonesia is rapidly becoming one of the largest countries in the world, Vladimir Putin noted. The Head of State announced a detailed conversation with President Prabowo Subianto on priority areas of cooperation, which will be held on June 19 as part of his official visit.

The meeting was also attended by journalists from the CIS who were interested in expanding cooperation with Moscow. Vladimir Putin believes that, for example, Russia and Kazakhstan can do a lot together to boost trade relations against the backdrop of global challenges. In addition, Moscow is ready to assist Astana in diversifying the export of oil produced in the republic.

— Almost all of Kazakhstan's oil exports go through Russia. But we understand that Kazakhstan is interested in diversification, and we are ready to help," Putin said.

The President recalled that oil from Kazakhstan is now supplied to the world market through the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, as well as through other channels, the same applies to gas. By the way, the Russian leader raised the issue of the Caspian Sea while talking to a journalist from Azerbaijan. Putin said that the governments of the two countries are working together to solve the problem of the shallowing of the Caspian Sea. In addition, the head of state at the meeting touched upon the discussion of migration issues with a representative of Uzbekistan, and also informed a journalist from Belarus about the 100% implementation of all plans for the development of relations that Moscow and Minsk have.