Speaking at his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated a condition that must be met for Russia to enter peace negotiations with Ukraine – that the country’s ruler Vladimir Zelensky must hold elections. Putin also said he will gain classified information about U.S. supplied missile systems from Russian spy networks embedded in the Ukrainian armed forces, daring the U.S. to supply Ukraine with the systems. The Russian President also challenged the West to a ‘technological duel’ of hypersonic missiles.
“Now, if Ukraine truly wants to go down the path of peaceful resolution, it can do so by organizing it inside the country however they want. But we can only sign agreements with those who are legitimate, and the only ones who are [now] legitimate are the Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) and the Rada chairman,” Putin said Thursday.
Notably, Zelensky’s presidency ended in May. The ruler refused to step down due to war-time provisions in the Ukrainian Constitution, again reiterating his anti-election stance in November during a speech before the Ukrainian Parliament.
It may not be a surprise that Putin requires Ukrainian elections for peace talks, since elections are being withheld in Ukraine due to their state of war.
Putin also welcomed Ukrainian citizens into Russia, stating that they are their own people.
”We welcome them,” Putin said of the Ukrainian people on Thursday. “They are people of our culture, part of our people in essence.”
Interestingly, the Russian President dared the U.S. to supply its THAAD long-range air defense system to Ukraine, stating that Russia has informants within Ukraine which will leak technical information about the systems to Russia.
“Let them supply it [to Kiev]. We’ll ask our guys in Ukraine whether they would give us a hint about modern design elements that could be of use to us,” Putin said on Thursday. “When I say ‘our guys’ I don’t mean it ironically.”
While there very well may be validity to that statement, it may also be taken as Putin warning the West that anything they send to Ukraine will be analyzed by Russia.
“The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was touted by some military experts as a capability that could counter Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile,” RT said.
Regarding the Oreshnik system possibly being vulnerable to the THAAD system or perhaps other anti-missile systems, Putin challenged the West to a ‘technological duel’ between the missile/anti-missile systems.
“Well, if those Western experts you mentioned believe that, they should suggest to their employers in the West and the U.S. to conduct a technological experiment,” Putin said Thursday. “For instance, a high-tech duel of the 21st century. Let them identify a target in Kiev, concentrate all their air defense and missile defense systems there, and then we will strike it with an Oreshnik. Let’s see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment. Is the other side ready?”
Notably, many Ukrainians wish the war to be over and Zelensky stated that the war would end sooner under a U.S. presidency of Donald Trump. Trump himself has worked tirelessly to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict, a promise he made before the election.