Russia Says No Ukraine Truce Without Addressing War’s Root Causes

Russia said it cannot accept a peace proposal that would simply freeze the war in Ukraine along the current front line.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told an interviewer on Aug. 10 that "as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized, no freeze is possible without addressing the root causes of this crisis," according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency.

Galuzin added that Russia remains committed to achieving the goals of what Moscow calls its "special military operation" and is also ready to implement the Anchorage agreements, signaling openness to a political and diplomatic solution.

Since the summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August last year, Russia has maintained that it would freeze the southeastern front and sign a peace agreement if Ukraine cedes the entire Donbas region in the east.

The remarks came as a US mediation team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner was set to make back-to-back visits to Kyiv and Moscow.

On the US mediation effort, Galuzin said continued weapons supplies and intelligence support for Ukraine run counter to any stated desire for peace.

He also claimed that Ukrainian forces have damaged the negotiating atmosphere by carrying out drone attacks on civilian energy infrastructure, including the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, oil pipeline.

The Kyiv Post said Galuzin's remarks suggest Russia has no intention of merely halting the fighting unless broader political and territorial demands are met.

Park Sang-kyung, Hankyung.com reporter highseoul@hankyung.com