Putin rejects Zelensky meeting abroad, insists on Moscow venue

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected calls for a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at a negotiating venue abroad.

If Zelensky wants to meet with him but at the same time demands that he travel somewhere for the meeting, then that is asking too much, Putin said at the economic forum in Vladivostok.

“The best place for this [for a meeting] is the capital of the Russian Federation, the heroic city of Moscow,” he said.

Zelensky had previously rejected plans for a Moscow meeting.

There are seven countries willing to host a summit, according to Ukrainian sources.

In Vladivostok, Putin insisted on Moscow as the venue for negotiations, as he had proposed during his visit to China earlier this week.

The safety of the guests would be guaranteed to 100 per cent, he said.

Ukraine’s security service (SBU) says it has foiled several assassination plots against the president since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Talks in Moscow would bolster the Kremlin’s negotiating position, which continues to see itself as having an advantage on the front lines.

Putin has argued that talks with Zelensky would be futile, claiming the Ukrainian president no longer has the legal authority to sign agreements.

Zelensky’s term officially expired last year.

But he continues to lead Ukraine via martial law, under which elections are suspended for the duration of the war, and the president’s mandate is automatically extended.

Putin, by contrast, has remained in power since 2012, bolstered by constitutional changes that allowed him to extend his term limits.