Putin says no reason to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky, calls his letter ‘rude’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he currently saw no reason to meet Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian president published an open letter proposing they hold face-to-face talks to agree an end to a war now in its fifth year.

In his letter, which was sent to other countries, including the US, Zelensky said most Russians ‌had grown tired of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, high inflation and fuel shortages, and were ready for peace.

He also suggested that continuing the war could threaten Putin’s own position, saying that history had shown that when Russia got tired, change followed.

Speaking at an annual economic forum where some of Russia’s richest businessmen complained about high interest rates and economic stagnation stemming from the war, Putin said the letter did not come across as a sincere offer to hold talks.

“This letter contains some rather rude remarks. Was it a way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think ⁠it was the latter,” Putin said.

Asked whether he would meet Zelensky, whom the 73-year-old Kremlin chief was careful not to name but to refer to only as “the letter’s author”, ‌Putin was blunt: