Putin says Ukraine peace talks could be held in Belarus’ Minsk
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said that, if talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take place, they could be held in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
Source: Russian news agency Interfax, citing an interview Putin gave to Kremlin propagandist Pavel Zarubin
Details: "I am convinced that, if the matter ever comes to negotiations, Belarus could once again provide a venue. I know Alexander Grigoryevich's position – he is ready to support in every possible way anything aimed at resolving disputes through peaceful means," Putin said, referring to self-proclaimed Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin noted that the Russia-Ukraine talks in 2022 began in Minsk and that the 2014 Minsk agreements were also concluded there.
He also acknowledged that no agreements were reached during his meeting with the US president in Anchorage, although the sides discussed possible compromises.
"There were indeed no agreements in Anchorage... The spirit of Anchorage, although it was never formalised in any documents and no one signed anything, involved discussions about possible ways to resolve the crisis [Russia's war against Ukraine]... We were asked to make compromises proposed by the American negotiators," Putin said.
He added that Russia had not received any other proposals from the United States.
"We were asked to make compromises. We considered them and, not immediately but eventually came to Anchorage and said we agreed. We have not heard any other position from the American side," he claimed.
Putin also said he expects US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to travel to Moscow in order to continue discussions on ending Russia's war against Ukraine based on what he described as the understandings reached in Anchorage.
"We expect that, once the hot phase of events concerning Iran has ended, representatives of the US administration – with whom we have met several times in Moscow – will arrive, and we are ready to continue negotiations and discuss the details and modalities, if not agreements, then at least the issues discussed in Anchorage," he said.
Background:
- US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska, on 15 August 2025. The summit ended without any agreements being reached or a ceasefire in Ukraine being announced.
- On 16 August 2025, following his talks with Putin, Trump first spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then held a joint call with Zelenskyy and European leaders. According to Bloomberg, Trump told them that Putin continued to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts but was prepared to freeze the front line in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that Ukraine will not agree to territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire. He has argued that ceding Donbas would merely provide Russia with a staging ground for a future offensive, as Putin has no intention of ending the war.
- On 15 June, Zelenskyy said he had proposed meeting Putin at the G7 summit in France to discuss ending the war, but that Russia "was not ready to talk".
- Earlier, on 4 June, the Ukrainian president sent a letter to the Kremlin leader proposing a face-to-face bilateral meeting to end the war and stressing that Europe and the United States should be involved in the negotiations.
- Trump expressed support for the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
- Putin, meanwhile, said he had read Zelenskyy's open letter but "saw no point" in such a meeting. In September 2025, he indicated that he would not travel elsewhere to meet Zelenskyy, while saying he would be prepared to hold talks with him in Moscow.
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