Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that European countries can participate in resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
Putin said this amid concerns by the European Union that it could be isolated from peace talks in Ukraine between Russia and the United States.
"Europeans, but also other countries, have the right and the opportunity to participate. And we respect that," Putin said in a televised interview.
The Russian leader said that it was the European countries that broke off relations with Russia.
"They themselves gave up all contact with us and had all sorts of crazy ideas about winning against Russia on the battlefield," Putin said.
"Their participation in the negotiation process is necessary. We have never been against it," he explained.
Putin said that the talks between Russia and the United States last week in Saudi Arabia, which were the first high-level since the start of the war in Ukraine and in which European countries did not take part, were aimed at "strengthening trust" between Moscow and Washington.
"No issue can be resolved without this. Including such a complex and acute issue as the Ukrainian crisis," the Russian head of state pointed out.
The Russian Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed in Saudi Arabia "the problems related to the Ukrainian crisis, but not the Ukrainian crisis itself," Putin said.