Putin open to peace talks with Ukraine ‘if it comes to that’

Firefighters work at the site after a Russian missile attack on December 20, 2024, in Kyiv (Picture: Getty)

Slovakia could host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the future after receiving approval from Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader who this week hosted Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico in Moscow, said he had offered his country to host negotiations about the end of the war as it will soon near its three-year mark.

The president said the Slovakian authorities ‘…would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations’.

‘We are not opposed, if it comes to that. Why not? Because Slovakia holds a neutral position from our point of view,’ he told a press conference in Saint Petersburg.

Like Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, Fico has emerged as a sort of an advocate for Putin and for Russia within the European Union.

He has been an outspoken opponent of its members’ support for Ukraine and has been working on establishing friendly relations with the Kremlin.

In general, Slovakia is one of the central and Eastern European EU member states that are supportive of negotiations with Russia.

The country, which shares a border with Ukraine in its east, had sent military aid in 13 packages and worth $718.24 million to Ukraine since February 2022 before Fico’s appointment.

But the PM halted all governmental aid last year.

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