Talks are taking place in the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The topic of the war in Ukraine was not touched upon by Putin in his opening remarks, but Lukashenko mentioned the conflict, stating that the United States does not yet have a concrete plan for resolving the situation and is "only probing the ground for now", TASS reports.
Russian media predict that at the press conference after the meeting, a question may be asked to Putin about the proposal of Kiev and Washington for a 30-day ceasefire.
Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has already stated on the Russian television "Russia 1" that the ceasefire is "inexpedient". At the same time, news agencies also spread another of his positions - that Putin would present the official Russian position on a possible temporary cessation of hostilities.
It is unclear whether Alexander Lukashenko could play any mediating role in possible negotiations or would participate as an ally of Moscow. Belarus is a key partner of Russia in the war against Ukraine and provided its territory for Russian military operations at the beginning of the invasion in 2022.
It is recalled that in the past, Minsk hosted the negotiations that led to the Minsk agreements - agreements from 2014 and 2015, which were supposed to end the conflict in Donbas, but were never implemented. Lukashenko has repeatedly offered Belarus to be a platform for new peace talks, but Kiev and the West do not perceive Minsk as neutral territory.