Putin plays down African peace plan
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the war in Ukraine a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided. The African leaders were seeking agreement on a series of "confidence building measures", even as Kyiv last week began a counteroffensive to push back Russian forces from the swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine that they occupy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after meeting them in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks would require Moscow to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory, something Russia has said is not negotiable. Putin opened Saturday's talks with representatives of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo Republic, Comoros and South Africa in a palace near St Petersburg by stressing Russia's commitment to the continent. But after presentations from the Comoran, Senegalese and South African presidents, he stepped in to challenge the assumptions of the plan – predicated on acceptance of internationally recognised borders – before the round of statements could go any further. Putin reiterated his position that Ukraine and its Western allies had started the conflict long before Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February last year, something they deny. He said the West, not Russia, was responsible for a sharp rise in global food prices early last year that has hit Africa especially hard. He told the delegation that Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia has permitted for the past year were doing nothing to alleviate Africa's difficulties with high food prices because they had largely gone to wealthy countries. And he said Russia had never refused talks with the Ukrainian side, which had been blocked by Kyiv. Moscow has, however, repeatedly said any peace must allow for "new realities", meaning its declared annexation of five Ukrainian provinces, four of which it only partially controls – a red line for Kyiv. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised remarks that Moscow shared the "main approaches" of the African plan, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying it was "difficult to realise". (Reuters)