Russia's Foreign Ministry posted today (May 20) and said: "Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement to reporters after talking on the phone with US President Trump. Russia supports the peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. We need to find the most effective way to achieve peace."
On local time May 19, US President Trump dialed the Kremlin and talked for "two hours and five minutes", then Trump announced to the world that the conversation was "very smooth" and "Russia and Ukraine immediately launched ceasefire negotiations".
Puotin's expression was much more tactful, he said that Russia was willing to jointly draft memorandums with the Ukrainian side regarding possible future peace treaties. As for the specific content of these memorandums, Ukrainian President Zelensky said he knew nothing about the details. It may include a possible timetable, roadmap? But Putin said an important sentence, which he had repeated countless times, "First of all, we must eliminate the root cause of this crisis".
To Putin, his goal is not to meet with Zelensky, nor even to negotiate directly with Kiev. Instead, Russia's purpose is to be able to sit on equal terms with the United States and have face-to-face talks with Washington, which can influence the development of the situation in Ukraine, to normalize Russian-American relations. For Russia, what is more important is to hope that the United States will eventually agree to sit down and readjust the geopolitical pattern, supporting the "new world order" in which Russia occupies an important position.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832591449277448/
Disclaimer: The article only represents the author's personal views.