'Ready for peace talks, India could mediate': Russia's Putin on Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested China, India, and Brazil as potential mediators in Ukraine peace talks, which he said can be based on a previously unimplemented Istanbul agreement

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that China, India and Brazil could act as mediators in potential peace talks over its ongoing war with Ukraine.

Putin said a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul - which was never implemented - could serve as the basis for talks.

Putin’s remark comes days after after his Ukraine counterpart Volydymr Zelensky said that he was set to travel to the United States later this month to present a "victory plan" to President Joe Biden.

Referring to Kyiv's three-week-old incursion into Russia's Kursk region, he said the move is part of the larger plan, which is focused on forcing Russia to end the war. He said the war would eventually end in dialogue but for that, Kyiv must first secure a strong negotiating position.

“And I want that very much - (that it would be) fair for Ukraine," Zelensky said on August 28.

Current status of Russia-Ukraine war

Currently, as Ukrainian troops are engaged in Russia's Kursk region, Moscow is making advances in the eastern part of Ukraine, which it has been occupying since February 2022. Both countries have been launching massive drone attacks on each other, targeting key infrastructures.

Following Ukraine’s Kursk move, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, on August 19, that talks were out of the question. Ukraine controls more than 1,200 square km in the region now, it said.

In the past, Putin himself has said that dialogues with Ukraine would need to start with Zelensky’s acceptance of "realities on the ground.” This would mean Ukraine recognising Russia's control over significant portions of four Ukrainian regions, as well as Crimea.

PM Modi’s visit to Russia and Ukraine

On August 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a nine-hour visit to Kyiv, where he urged Zelensky to hold talks with Russia and noted that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.

Modi’s key visit to Ukraine followed just six weeks after he met Putin in Moscow and conveyed to him that no solution was possible on the battlefield. Following his Kyiv trip, Modi had also held telephonic discussions with Biden and Putin.