Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from journalists Thursday at the conclusion of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting held outside St. Petersburg. The Russian-led EEU economic bloc includes member states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Among the more interesting moments was when Putin revealed what President Biden previously offered him in order to avert the Ukraine conflict, regarding the question of Kiev's NATO membership.
The comments came in the context of a question over Trump's reported peace plan and the idea of freezing the front lines. Putin described that such a plan is nothing new, and added the following per state media translation:
"I know that the current President Biden spoke about this, it’s no secret, back in 2021. He proposed exactly this to me – to delay Ukraine’s admission into NATO by 10-15 years, because [Kiev] is not ready yet," Putin said, referring to the midsummer meeting he had with the US leader in Switzerland.
🇷🇺 Putin revealed that US President Joe Biden suggested in 2021 that he would postpone Ukraine’s accession to NATO. https://t.co/OKa9rMykkd pic.twitter.com/XWwZUCIG0v
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 26, 2024
He stressed that no matter the timeline, Ukraine's admission into NATO would be unacceptable "whether it’s in one year or ten years."
"We, too, are striving to end the conflict," Putin added, but stressed that this should happen by achieving all of Moscow’s military and political objectives, according to RT.
Toward this end, Putin during the Q&A proposed Slovakia as a 'neutral' potential host country for future peace talks:
Russia is ready to use Slovakia as a venue for negotiations, as the country maintains a neutral position, says Putin.
— Russian Market (@runews) December 26, 2024
- So much for neutral Switzerland pic.twitter.com/MuZS58H9aZ
Last week Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Moscow. Fico, who survived an assassination attempt on May 15 of this year, has been blasted by European leaders as cozying up to Putin. But Fico in response has proclaimed that Putin has been "wrongly demonized" by the West. He also characterized the Moscow visit as about defending Slovakia's sovereignty and energy security.
Fico described in the meeting's aftermath Russia is willing to continue supplying gas to Slovakia, but that Ukraine's refusal to renew a key gas transit deal with Moscow makes getting the supplies "practically impossible".
Putin on Thursday reiterated that Russia is willing to sell gas to anyone...
🇷🇺🇵🇱 PUTIN OFFERS GAS TO EUROPE
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 26, 2024
“Just press the button and the gas will go through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, it was Poland that blocked our route” — Putin
Europe rather deindustrializes for some reason. pic.twitter.com/SfxLjChUbH
Hungary too looks also bear the brunt of the negative consequences resulting from gas transit cutoff through Ukraine. Oil Price explains of both Slovakia and Hungary, "Slovakia has a long-term gas supply contract with Gazprom. The expiry of the transit deal with Naftogaz would interfere with that contract’s terms, which probably led to the visit to Moscow. Landlocked Slovakia and neighbor Hungary have few gas supply options that can compare on price with Russian pipeline gas."
As for Putin's fresh comments rejecting even the possibility of future Ukraine membership in NATO, this means that in any future dealings with Trump, the Kremlin is certain to press this point hard.
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