Prisoner exchange, peace talks and Zelensky’s illegitimacy: Putin’s statements at the economic forum in St. Petersburg
фото: Reuters
Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin justified massive missile strikes on Ukrainian cities by saying that the targets were supposedly defense-industrial complex facilities.
The Russian President stated this during a meeting with representatives of world news agencies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
“If your journalists had seen how entire residential blocks were destroyed by our missiles, they would hardly have been able to tell you anything about it. They would not have survived. If they did see anything, they saw it from the side. And the strike was not on residential blocks, but on defense industry facilities – on factories that produce military equipment. That’s what we’re doing. And here we’re not making any secret – one of the goals of the “special military operation” is the demilitarization of Ukraine,” Putin said, answering a question about Russia’s numerous strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, in particular on residential buildings, which caused the deaths of civilians.
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In addition, the Kremlin leader announced Russia’s readiness to return another 3,000 bodies of dead soldiers to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange.
According to Putin, the peace talks in Istanbul “make sense and have a positive result.”
He added that the parties have already agreed on the exchange of 1,200 prisoners and Russia “has already given 500 people – we got 400 back, I think we will get everyone we need.”
“Unfortunately, it’s hard to talk about this. We gave away more than 6,000 bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen, and in return we received 57. We are ready to give away another 3,000 now. This is still a positive result of the negotiations in Istanbul,” the Russian leader said.
Peace negotiations
Putin said that Russia seeks to end the war against Ukraine “as soon as possible.” According to him, after June 22, the Russian delegation is ready for a new meeting with the Ukrainian side.
According to him, he allegedly supports the “as soon as possible” end to the “conflict in Ukraine peacefully.”
According to him, the Russian negotiating team maintains contacts with the Ukrainian side, and a new round of negotiations is possible after June 22.
At the same time, Putin “advised” Ukraine not to delay negotiations, otherwise, according to him, “the situation for Kyiv could worsen even further.”
The Russian leader also spoke about Germany. For example, he doubts that Berlin will be a better mediator on Ukraine than the United States, since “the mediator must be neutral.” He added that the supply of German missiles to Ukraine “will not affect the course of the conflict,” but Germany’s relations with Russia “will completely deteriorate.”
At the same time, the Russian dictator did not escape the attention of American President Donald Trump:
“Trump said that the operation in Ukraine would not have begun if he were president in 2022, I think he is right,” the Kremlin leader said.
Attack on NATO
Putin said that the claim that Russia wants to attack Europe and NATO countries is an “incredible lie.”
The Russian leader also mentioned NATO’s defense spending.
“NATO countries spend $1.4 trillion on defense – more than all the countries in the world,” he said.
He added that Russia is “constantly improving its armed forces and defense capabilities,” and does not consider NATO rearmament a threat to itself, because it “buys all these threats.” According to Putin, increasing NATO countries’ defense spending to 5% of GDP “does not make sense.”
Cooperation with Iran
Russia also agreed with Israel that Russian specialists building nuclear power plants in Iran will not be fired upon, and their safety will be ensured.
The Russian dictator noted that he was grateful to Tehran for the “martyrs.” He noted that Russia had once offered its “Iranian friends to work in the field of air defense systems.” However, at that time, “the partners did not show much interest.”
“Regarding the strategic partnership agreement, there are no articles related to the defense sector. And our Iranian friends are not asking for it. So there is practically nothing to discuss,” Putin said.
He also confirmed that Russian air defense systems had previously been supplied to Iran.
As a reminder, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has declared his readiness for negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky , but refuses to recognize the current President of Ukraine as legitimate for signing any agreements.
As reported, the Iranian parliament officially approved the strategic partnership agreement with Russia , which was signed by the presidents of the two countries on January 17, 2025 in Moscow.
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