Putin Rejects Zelenskyy’s Offer To Meet, Saying He Sees ‘No Point’ In It

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Russia’s offer on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy He said he requested a face-to-face meeting about the 4-year-old conflict and saw “no point” in it.

Thursday’s letter is Zelenskyy’s first public message directly to Putin since Russia Sent troops to Ukraine in 2022It contained broad criticism of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, as well as some jibes about his age.

in conversation St.Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “rude”.

“Is this a way to create conditions for personal meetings and conversations, or to create an environment that would make any personal meetings impossible?” Putin said the following in the question-answer session at the annual congress: St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I think it’s the second one.”

Putin added that a Russian businessman, whose name he did not give, went to Kiev last month and met with Zelenskyy to hear his offer for a personal meeting.

But Putin said there was “no point” in such a meeting now, especially after a drone attack on a university dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Luhansk region on May 22 that Moscow said killed 21 people and injured many others.

In response to Zelenskyy’s sarcasm about his age and long stay in power, 73-year-old Putin said, “The main thing is not age, the main thing is the ability to work,” pointing to other global leaders who are older than him.

He also mocked Zelenskyy’s difficult Oval Office meeting in 2025 and thanked US President Donald Trump for “educating” Zelenskyy “in front of the whole world” and teaching him a proper dress code.

“There’s still a lot to do,” he said.

Zelenskyy US admits priorities have changedHe said it would be wrong to expect the Trump administration to turn its attention to ending the conflict in Ukraine when it is so intensely focused on ending it. Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said Thursday that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy “would be great.”

Putin had previously offered Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for talks, but the Ukrainian leader flatly rejected this offer. Putin said last month that he did not rule out holding meetings in a third country, but only when there was an agreement to be signed.

On Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelenskyy’s request for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Moscow wanted a comprehensive solution, not a temporary ceasefire.

Putin stated that Russia is open to compromise on Ukraine in line with the agreements reached at the summit with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska last year, and added that Ukraine must accept them in order to make an agreement. to end the conflict.

“Naturally, the Ukrainian side wants us to suspend the advance of Russian troops,” he said. “But it would be better to end the war by accepting the compromises discussed in Anchorage.”

Asked about Iran, Putin expressed his hope for a final agreement that would secure lasting peace. He shrugged off allegations that Moscow provided satellite imagery to Iran and said Tehran could use widely available commercial imagery.

“As for weapons, Iran hasn’t asked us for them and we haven’t supplied any weapons to Iran,” he said, adding that Russia stands ready to take enriched uranium for storage as part of a potential peace deal, and that Moscow has stayed in contact with Iran, the US and Israel.

In his speech at the forum early on Friday, Putin said that developing countries are gaining an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of Western countries in production is decreasing.

He accused the West of undermining the global economy and finance with unilateral sanctions. He said Western nations were undermining confidence in their own currencies by freezing Russia’s assets abroad through sanctions.

“Sanctions and blocks on Russia’s sovereign reserves have irreversibly affected the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,” he said. “Just like Russia, any country could lose its legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as access to Western financial and payment systems.”

He claimed that high government debt was helping to weaken global trust in Western institutions.

“The roots of the current global turmoil lie in the transition from a vertical, hierarchical model that serves the interests of a small number of states to a more complex, dispersed and multipolar model,” Putin said. “Russia sees global changes not only as a threat but also as great opportunities. We aim to act quickly and pragmatically to take advantage of them.”

The Russian leader said that the world needs “a modern, flexible and responsible financial architecture, free from risks, prohibitions and obstacles.”

Putin downplayed Russia’s economic slowdown and tried to emphasize its macroeconomic stability. He noted that Russia’s government debt is a fraction of that of Western countries, and its budget deficit is much smaller compared to the West.

The forum took place at a time when Russia’s economic outlook was blurring. Conflict in Ukraine. The government increased taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep the budget deficit under control.

On Thursday, Putin told international media heads on the sidelines of the forum that it was an exaggeration to say that Russia’s economy was in dire straits. He stated that his government was taking deliberate steps to cool the economy to keep inflation under control.

PutinSt. Petersburg forum. World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. to showcase his country’s economic advancements and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders stayed away after Putin sent troops to Ukraine in 2022, Russia sought guests from elsewhere to underline its stated goal of promoting a “multipolar world”.

While Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and the vice president of China also gave speeches on Friday. For the first time in years, a U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, was present. agrees.

Cook stood out in the audience during the question-and-answer session following Putin’s speech. Cook, St. While praising the beauty of St. Petersburg, Putin thanked him for his statements about his hometown and asked him to convey his greetings to Trump.

Hours before the forum opened on Wednesday, a Ukrainian Drone attack set on fire St. An oil terminal in St. Petersburg was also hit, as was a nearby naval base.

Putin declared that Russia was moving “calmly and decisively” to achieve its goals in Ukraine. He acknowledged damage from Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia and vowed to strengthen defenses.

“They do a certain amount of damage,” he said. “For us, this means only one thing: we need to strengthen our security, we need to strengthen our air defense, and we will do that.”