Overview
- At his Kremlin Direct Line event on December 19, Vladimir Putin said Russia did not start the war and declared he does not consider himself responsible for wartime deaths.
- He repeated claims that a 2014 coup in Ukraine and the failure to implement the Minsk accords led Moscow to use its armed forces.
- Asked whether rejecting a U.S. peace proposal would make him responsible for future deaths, he said he would not bear such responsibility.
- Putin said Kyiv is not ready to end the war because it refuses to discuss territories, while noting there are “certain signals” of readiness for dialogue.
- He praised President Donald Trump’s efforts and said they practically agreed on proposals in Anchorage, as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed a negative view of a proposed Christmas ceasefire.