No immediate plans for Putin-Zelensky talks, says Kremlin spokesman

MOSCOW – There are no immediate plans to organize talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, TASS reported.

“No, there are no such plans so far,” he said in an answer to a corresponding question asked by TASS.

 Commenting on Turkey’s and Kazakhstan’s mediation offers, the Kremlin spokesman stressed that “direct talks are underway between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.”

Peskov says special operation for demilitarization is taking place in Ukraine

Dmitry Peskov also insists that it’s a special operation to demilitarize and denazify the country that’s taking place in Ukraine and disagrees with emotional assessments.

During a conversation with reporters, a Kremlin spokesman on Tuesday was asked if the Russian special operation could be called a war.

“You are asking this question from the point of view of emotions,” Peskov said. “I am telling you officially: President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin, as the commander-in-chief, gave the order to start a special operation, and a special operation is being carried out.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, amid a strong escalation of the situation in Donbass and in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, announced a special military operation in Ukraine. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. The Kremlin spokesman said Ukrainian nationalists make multiple attempts to use civilian population as a human shield.

Raghda Sawas