Zelenskyy on 2022 ban on talks with Putin: I lead negotiations and no one else should interfere

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that it was to stop separatism that he enacted a National Security and Defence Council ban on negotiations with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in 2022, as the Russians were trying to put pressure on Ukraine through "many different corridors" that Ukraine could not control.

Source: Zelenskyy at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Kyiv on Saturday

Quote: "Regarding whether we can talk [with Putin – ed.] or not. The decision of the National Security and Defence Council – why did I sign this decree? Because Putin had begun very quickly to establish a large number of different channels, in collaboration with separatists and officials from other states, in order to influence Ukraine, our independence, and me directly. There were a lot of conversations going on and a lot of shadowy political corridors.

I quickly put a stop to it. I simply stopped separatism in our country by forbidding anyone – any political figures in Ukraine – from holding any negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin's supporters, during the war.

This was when their troops were in Kyiv Oblast. And they were doing that, they were applying pressure through a variety of channels – parliamentarians, our citizens, and parliamentarians from our European colleagues and the United States. There were a lot of different negotiation platforms. I realised that we and our authorities couldn't control it. So I made a totally reasonable decision. I am the president of Ukraine, I lead all the negotiations, and I have forbidden everyone else [to interfere]."

Details: Zelenskyy noted that Putin "doesn’t like this, because he had many channels".

Quote: "There are some channels that everyone knows about because the people involved were arrested and then we exchanged them for our soldiers [the president is probably referring to Viktor Medvedchuk – ed.], but they also used some other channels, even in some of our institutions, which I’m not ready to talk about publicly yet. That's why the decision was made."

Background: 

• On 4 October 2022, Zelenskyy enacted a National Security and Defence Council decision not to negotiate with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
• The text of the decision said that the NSDC had decided to "state the impossibility of holding talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin". It did not specify who was forbidden to hold talks.
• The Russians have repeatedly criticised this decision and demanded that it be reconsidered. In particular, on 24 January 2025, Putin announced that he wants to meet with US President Donald Trump to "discuss issues that are of interest to Moscow and Washington". In the context of the possibility of negotiating an end to the war, the Russian leader recalled Zelenskyy's decree banning negotiations with Russia, saying that the international partners sponsoring Ukraine should force Zelenskyy to revoke his decree.

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