Russian President Vladimir Putin had an awkward exchange with a reporter from a Chinese state media outlet in a recent question-and-answer session.
Putin said the February 2022 invasion was announced even earlier in reaction to a question about his refusal to pause the war, appearing to sidestep the issue entirely.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry via a request for comment outside of office hours.
Putin’s comments come 33 months after the start of the conflict and underscore his determination to continue the offensive. His justification for the invasion refers to Ukraine’s alleged failure to comply with the Minsk agreement and alludes to broader strategic calculations.
During a press briefing on Thursday a reporter for the China Media Group asked Putin why he would not agree to a ceasefire.
Putin responded: “It is worth stopping for a week—to give the enemy a chance to gain a foothold on these positions, to give them a break, to get the necessary ammunition. What we need is not a ceasefire, but peace. Long-term, durable, with guarantees for Russia and its citizens.”
When asked by Russian media agency RBC if he would reconsider his decision to start the war if he could go back to February 2022, Putin suggested that the invasion should have come sooner.
“The resolution that was taken at the beginning of 2022 already predates it,” Putin said. “Knowing this, it would be necessary to prepare in advance for these events, adding the SMO”, referring to the “special military operation”, a term used by Putin to designate the invasion.
Putin justified the timing of the invasion by accusing kyiv of refusing to honor the Minsk Agreement and stating that Ukraine had made “some claims about weapons of mass destruction. “
The 2015 Minsk agreement aimed to end the standoff in eastern Ukraine by calling for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and autonomy for separatist regions. It was signed through Kyiv and Moscow, but never fully implemented.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: When asked about the possibility of freezing hostilities, amid reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s team is exploring negotiations, Zelensky told the French outlet Le Parisien that Trump “knows about my desire not to rush things at the expense of Ukraine.”
Both in the confrontation have established the preconditions for peace talks.
It is not easy for Ukraine to completely withdraw Russian forces from its territory, apart from Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. kyiv is also not easy for reparations, responsibility for Russian war crimes and promises of its sovereignty before of the peace negotiations.
The Kremlin insists that Ukraine recognize the loss of its territories, the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. The Kremlin also calls on Ukraine to abandon its strategy of joining NATO.
Micah McCartney is a Newsweek journalist in Taipei, Taiwan. Covers US-China relations, security issues in East and Southeast Asia, and China-Taiwan relations. You can contact Micah by emailing m. mccartney@newsweek. com.