MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no commitment on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine on Friday and accused the European Union of attempting a ‘daylight robbery’ of Russian assets.
Putin laid out the Kremlin’s stance on the war in the opening moments of his annual year-end press conference, a marathon that typically lasts about four hours.
He said he saw no readiness on the Ukrainian side to reach a peace agreement, but that there were ‘certain signs’ that the country was willing to engage in dialogue.
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‘The only thing I want to say is that we have always said this: we are ready and willing to end this conflict peacefully, based on the principles I outlined last June at the Russian Foreign Ministry and addressing the root causes that led to this crisis,’ Putin declared.
He was referring to a speech from 18 months ago in which he demanded that Ukraine abandon its ambition to join the NATO military alliance and withdraw entirely from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own territory.
Kiev refuses to give up land that Moscow’s forces have failed to capture in nearly four years of war.
Putin made the comments hours after European Union leaders set aside a plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a loan to Ukraine, deciding instead to borrow money to help finance Kiev’s defense against Russia for the next two years.
EU leaders said they reserved the right to use Russian assets to repay the loan if Moscow fails to pay war reparations to Ukraine.
Putin said the bloc had backed away from the original scheme because it would have faced serious repercussions and undermined its status as a safe place to store assets.
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‘Robbery is not the appropriate term… It is a robbery in broad daylight. Why couldn’t this robbery be carried out? Because the consequences can be serious for thieves,’ he said.
‘This isn’t just a blow to their image; it is a weakening of confidence in the eurozone and the fact that many countries, not just Russia but especially oil-producing countries, store their gold and foreign currency reserves in the eurozone.’
