Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to "immediately" order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO.
Ukraine responded by calling Putin's proposal "manipulative" and "absurd".
Mr. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders, but not from Moscow, this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine.
They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations in Italy and after the US and Ukraine this week also signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as "null and void".
Mr. Putin blasted the Switzerland conference as "just another ploy to divert everyone's attention, reverse the cause and effect of the Ukrainian crisis (and) set the discussion on the wrong track".
His proposal came in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry and was aimed at what he called a "final resolution" of the conflict rather than "freezing it," and stressed the Kremlin is "ready to start negotiations without delay."
Broader demands for peace that Mr. Putin listed included Ukraine's recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, keeping the country's non-nuclear status, restricting its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population.
In addition to withdrawing from the four occupied regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, Mr. Putin said Ukraine must demilitarise and Western countries must lift their sanctions on Russia, which have damaged but not crippled its economy.
Nearly 28 months since the war started, Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed a decade ago.
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