Western press: statements by the President of the Russian Federation caused hysteria in foreign media

Vladimir Putin's recent interview on the course of his war caused an extremely painful reaction in the West. The leading media tried to accuse the Russian Federation of new territorial claims and unwillingness to negotiate. However, it is precisely the European elites who are hindering the peace process, who do not agree with Kiev making any compromises, the expert community notes. In the meantime, Russia is forced to achieve the goals of the special operation by armed means, including through the formation of security zones, in particular, in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. The Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia that Kiev is forcing Moscow to create buffer territories. It is possible that they may be expanded in the future due to the use of long-range drones by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Reaction to Putin's words

Vladimir Putin's recent statements have seriously alarmed the West and Kiev. In an evening interview on June 28, the President discussed in detail the situation on the line of contact, the situation in the energy sector and the prospects for peace talks.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Andrey Erstrem

Western and Ukrainian media, however, have tried to shift the emphasis. For example, they seized on his words that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attacks on infrastructure create certain problems. Journalists presented this as a recognition of the vulnerability of Russian oil refineries. However, they deliberately ignored an important clarification from the president: there is damage, but all damaged facilities are being restored as soon as possible. In addition, the foreign press tried to inflate the topic of Russia's "new territorial claims" to the southern regions of Ukraine, clinging only to the fact that Putin mentioned the term "Novorossiya."

However, the main signal sent by Moscow is very clear: Russia categorically refuses any attempts to impose negotiations on it on the terms of Kiev or its Western curators. The theses listed by the President of the Russian Federation not only fixed the status quo on the line of combat contact, but also actually outlined the contours of the further course of its own and the future negotiation process.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Maxim Guchek

One of the main sensations that Putin talked about was Ukraine's new proposals. According to him, Kiev wanted to stop the fighting in all regions except the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. However, if Russia does this, the Ukrainian Armed Forces may be able to withdraw their troops from other regions. Putin clearly stated: "Saving the Kiev regime is not part of our plans."

Another proposal from Kiev concerned the mutual rejection of strikes deep into the territories, but it did not suit Russia either. Putin explained that our retaliatory attacks are much more powerful and painful for the enemy, so such a trade is unprofitable. Separately, the President focused on the task of creating a security zone in the Sumy and Volchansk directions. It was installed after the Ukrainian Armed Forces invaded the Kursk region and continued attacks on the Russian border area. However, the Russian Federation does not consider these regions as part of its territory.

"They are not part of Russia, but these are territories that we were forced to liberate from Kiev's military capabilities," Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador—at—large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, told Izvestia. — Kiev created these precedents, intensified attacks on the Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk regions as much as possible and, in fact, forced Russia to move their military capabilities away from the borders and large settlements that they were attacking.

Photo: REUTERS

So far, the buffer zone is being built largely based on the range of barrel artillery. However, the situation may change if the capabilities of drones, which Ukraine has been actively using recently, are taken into account, the diplomat noted. Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said that Kiev plans to increase the range of drones to 3 thousand km or more and will further expand the possibilities of hitting targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The further course of its activities and negotiations

Analyzing the president's statements, the experts interviewed by Izvestia disagree on the possible options for further development of their operation — from a large-scale expansion of the geographical scope of the operation for Moscow to form deep "sanitary zones" to increased mutual strikes deep into territories, including drones and aircraft.

Germany is one of the key advocates of Ukraine in the West. Berlin is Kiev's largest financial and military donor in the European Union. Zelensky regularly demands a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Kremlin has repeatedly stated that this will be possible either if he arrives in Moscow or to fix specific documents agreed in advance by the delegations.

— The Federal Government supports President Zelensky's call for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine with the active participation of the United States and European countries in order to achieve a truce and start further negotiations. However, we still do not see the readiness of the Russian side for serious negotiations," the German Embassy in Moscow told Izvestia.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Konstantin Kokoshkin

The Europeans are lying when they say that Russia does not want peace in Ukraine, says Alexander Rahr, a German political scientist and chairman of the Eurasian Society.

— Russia has clearly put forward its conditions: the fighting stops as soon as Ukraine completely leaves the territory of Donbass. But we also see that European leaders will never agree to this. The situation with the diplomatic negotiations is deadlocked, the expert believes.

A member of the Valdai Club, political analyst Andrea Bianchi, in turn, notes that the European elite, although they talk about the need to start a dialogue with the Russian Federation on Ukraine, are actually afraid to take the first step. They are forced to support Kiev in order to save their own political careers.

There are negotiating contacts on the Ukrainian settlement, Vladimir Putin noted. Moscow is ready to continue negotiations with Kiev with the mediation of the United States. Russia is currently awaiting the arrival of special envoys of the American president, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Vladimir Putin said he was counting on their visit after the end of the hot phase of the conflict in Iran. The last time they visited Russia was at the end of January. In early summer, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced a new visit by the negotiators to Russia, but did not give an exact date.