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Exclusive: Putin's suggestion of Ukraine ceasefire rejected by United States, sources say
By Guy Faulconbridge and Darya Korsunskaya
February 13, 202411:42 AM ESTUpdated 4 hours ago


Russian President Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via video link outside Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia February 13, 2024. Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS /File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
MOSCOW/LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between intermediaries, three Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
The failure of Putin's approach ushers in a third year of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two and illustrates just how far apart the world's two largest nuclear powers remain.

A U.S. source denied there had been any official contact and said Washington would not engage in talks that did not involve Ukraine.
Putin sent signals to Washington in 2023 in public and privately through intermediaries, including through Moscow's Arab partners in the Middle East and others, that he was ready to consider a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Russian sources said.
Putin was proposing to freeze the conflict at the current lines and was unwilling to cede any of the Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, but the signal offered what some in the Kremlin saw as the best path towards a peace of some kind.
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"The contacts with the Americans came to nothing," a senior Russian source with knowledge of the discussions in late 2023 and early 2024 told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
A second Russian source with knowledge of the contacts told Reuters that the Americans told Moscow, via the intermediaries, they would not discuss a possible ceasefire without the participation of Ukraine and so the contacts ended in failure.

A third source with knowledge of the discussions said: "Everything fell apart with the Americans." The source said that the Americans did not want to pressure Ukraine.
The extent of the contacts - and their failure - has not previously been reported.
It comes as U.S. President Joe Biden has for months been pushing Congress to approve more aid for Ukraine, but has faced opposition from allies of Republican presidential nomination frontrunner Donald Trump.

The Kremlin, the White House, the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) all declined to comment.
U.S. SAYS 'NO BACK CHANNEL'
Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a full-scale war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on the one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.
Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and the West casts Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that challenges the post-Cold War international order.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he will never accept Russia's control over Ukrainian land. He has outlawed any contacts with Russia.
A U.S. official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, said that the U.S. has not engaged in any back channel discussions with Russia and that Washington had been consistent in not going behind the back of Ukraine.
The U.S. official said that there appeared to have been unofficial "Track II" conversations among Russians not in the government but that the United States was not engaged in them.
The U.S. official said Putin's proposal, based on what has been publicly reported, was unchanged from past demands that Russia hold on to Ukrainian territory. The official suggested that there appeared to be frustration in Moscow that Washington had repeatedly refused to accept it.
Putin told U.S. talk-show host Tucker Carlson last week that Russia was ready for "dialogue".

Intermediaries met in Turkey in late 2023, according to three Russian sources.
A fourth diplomatic source said that there had been Russian-U.S. unofficial contacts through intermediaries at Russia's initiative but that they appeared to have come to nothing.
The U.S. official said he was unaware of unofficial contact through intermediaries.
According to three Russian sources, Putin's signal was relayed to Washington, where top U.S. officials including White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met.
The idea was that Sullivan would speak to Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and set out the next steps, one of the Russian sources said.
But when the call came in January, Sullivan told Ushakov that Washington was willing to talk about other aspects of the relationship but would not speak about a ceasefire without Ukraine, said one of the Russian sources.
The U.S. official refused to be drawn on any details of Sullivan's purported calls, or whether such a conversation with Ushakov took place.
PUTIN 'READY TO FIGHT ON'
One of the Russian sources expressed frustration with the United States over Washington's insistence that it would not nudge Ukraine towards talks given that the United States was helping to fund the war.
"Putin said: 'I knew they wouldn't do anything'," another of the Russian sources said. "They cut off the root of the contacts which had taken two months to create."
Another Russian source said that the United States did not appear to believe Putin was sincere.
"The Americans didn't believe Putin was genuine about a ceasefire - but he was and is - he is ready to discuss a ceasefire. But equally Putin is also ready to fight on for as long as it takes - and Russia can fight for as long as it takes," the Russian source said.
The Kremlin sees little point in further contacts with the United States on the issue, the Russian sources said, so the war would continue.
Writing by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson

La guerra es contta USA o contra Ucrania

gines a escribió: Mar Feb 13, 2024 5:37 pm El congreso americano parece estar llegando a un acuerdo para el paquete de ayuda a Ucrania, y no quiere negociar con Putin si esto sucede.
El paquete de ayuda incluye nuevas armas y dispositivos contra misiles y drones que podrian cambiar el estancamiento de la guerra de Putin a favor de Ucrania.

gines a escribió: Mar Feb 13, 2024 6:06 pm USA no ha fabricado ni una bala nueva que no estuviera en el presupuesto. Hasta ahora solo se han enviado equipos de reserva o de pronta obsolecencia. El nuevo paquete estaria destinado a equipos mas modernos y a renovar las municiones ucranianas. Lo que no entiende la gente es que ese dinero se entrega en equipos, y muchos de ellos ya existen y lo que se fabrica nuevo entra en el ejercito americano y se saca el equipo de reserva.

Ucrania esta poniendo su ejercito, esta ayudando a mantener y hasta modernizar equipos de guerra en occidente y mantiene ocupado al loquito de Putin.

javier380_ND escribió: Mar Feb 13, 2024 5:44 pm Por lo visto Stalin era mas inteligente que Putin, Se cansó de las perdidas en Finlandia y ofreció una paz decorosa que finalizó ese choque, aunque en descargo de Putin este esta muy lejos de tener el poder de Stalin, pero podria buscar una forma sencilla de destrancar este embrollo, total ya tiene a Crimea a su mando.
Zelensky no es Mannerheim pero al igual que este en la guerra Ruso-Finlandesa ha logrado el apoyo total de su gente y eso cuenta quiera o no Putin.

Damiron escribió: Mar Feb 13, 2024 6:57 pm Cuando haces comentarios que son apoyables, pues, los apoyo... es totalmente cierto....estos juegos de guerra lo que permiten es modernizar y limpiar los anaqueles de basura que ya esta obsoleta y la danza de millones es para eso...lo mismo hacen los países que "prestan" sus equipos...

Los presupuestos de miles de millones no es que le transfieren a UCRANIA, el dinero, es el equivalente al "coste" del equipo, municiones, transporte pago de personal y hasta los viáticos, taxis y la propina que desembolsan para el envío de ese material, en pocas palabras, la ayuda es en ESPECIE y el poco dinero que se transfiere es para que los "contratistas" hagan sus diligencias en terreno para la entrega, mantenimiento y soporte técnico...la PLATICA no sale de USA, se la llevan a su vez los "contratistas" que elaboran nuevos equipos que pasan a ocupar los anaqueles que están limpiando de lo que les estorba...así...son las cosas.

verdinegro escribió: Mié Feb 14, 2024 4:35 am Gente que cree que las ofertas de paz se hacen desde una posición de debilidad...

Tarea: Leer a los clásicos. Sun Tzu, von Clausevitz, Schmitt.

A la final, este dinero se queda en USA, puesto que el departamento de defensa sale de stock militar senescente, que luego es cubierto por las empresas armamentistas locales. Algo que hay que notar aquí es que la mayoría de estas empresas de armamentos tienen sus "headquarters" en estados de mayoría republicana.

verdinegro escribió: Mié Feb 14, 2024 4:35 am Gente que cree que las ofertas de paz se hacen desde una posición de debilidad...

Tarea: Leer a los clásicos. Sun Tzu, von Clausevitz, Schmitt.

la Fuerza escribió: Mié Feb 14, 2024 10:49 am Seria interesante saber que habría pasado si el presidente fuese Trump.