Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a late night interview on the last day (Thurs.) of the BRICS summit hosted in Kazan, and in it he presented Russia as open to compromise in order to achieve peace with Ukraine. He was asked how he envisioned the conflict ending during the interview, the contents of which were released Friday. “Any outcome should be favorable to Russia, and I say that directly,” he said according to translation by state media.

“Russia has never refused to engage with Ukraine on various initiatives but will not compromise its interests in any negotiations,” Putin emphasized. “Moscow does not rule out compromises on its part as long as they are rational,” the Russian leader was further quoted in RT as saying.

Kremlin via AP/NBC, Getty Images

That’s when he revealed some new information regarding efforts to jump-start talks:

Ukraine has approached Russia twice with proposals through Turkish mediation but subsequently walked back its initiatives. “When we agreed, it turned out that the Ukrainian side had already withdrawn. This happened twice,” he revealed.

He explained this episode further as follows:

“We agreed to it, and the next day [Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky] publicly announced that he will not negotiate anything,” the president said. “This is irrational behavior, which is hard to predict. No plans can be based on this foundation. So there is no sense in discussing whether we would reach an agreement and what it would be,” Putin explained.

He also warned that Russia “must conduct its special military operation with full commitment and dismiss any notions of the enemy’s fatigue.”

Putin tried to bat down the accusations of Western officials and media reports which portray him as intentionally isolating Moscow from any dialogue. He said he has “never shunned contacts” on the diplomatic front.

“When we hear… that I avoid talking to some European leaders, let me tell you: that is a lie,” he stressed. “We did not reject and are not rejecting anything. If somebody wants to renew relations with us, they are welcome. We reiterated that, but we do not impose ourselves.”

He once again emphasized the possibility of ending the Ukraine war but in a way that results in both sides making reasonable compromises. But he has many times vowed to never give up the four annexed territories in the east, and certainly not Crimea either.

Earlier this week Zelensky floated his own plan of initial compromise which could be the basis of talks. He told journalists in Kiev that both sides should mutually agree on halting all aerial attacks on energy targets and cargo ships, and that this could pave the way for negotiations to end the war.

putin will make no compromises. Any negotiation should be in favour of Russia.

“Any outcome should be in favour of Russia, I’m speaking frankly, without any hesitation. And it should be based on the realities on the battlefield. And, without any doubt, we are not going to make… pic.twitter.com/39DgYXHJCp

— Yasmina (@yasminalombaert) October 25, 2024

The comments were first reported by Financial Times on Tuesday, which quoted the remarks as follows: “when it comes to energy and freedom of navigation, getting a result on these points would be a signal that Russia may be ready to end the war.”

“We saw during the first (peace) summit that there could be a decision on energy security,” Zelensky explained. “In other words—we do not attack their energy infrastructures; they don’t attack ours. Could this lead to the end of the war’s hot phase? I think so.”

But on the battlefield in the Donbass, Russia clearly has the initiative amid severe manpower problems within Ukraine’s military. Ukraine is also set to endure a very rough winter, given much of its energy infrastructure has been degraded and destroyed.