President Putin Calls Russia's Special Military Operations In Ukraine For Long-Term Peace

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - Long-term peace and protection of the rights of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine should be the main result of Russia's special military operations, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin.

President Putin stressed that Russia has sufficient troops to complete special military operations and achieve the goals set.

"The goal is to eliminate the initial cause of this crisis, establish conditions for long-term and sustainable peace, as well as provide security for Russia," he stressed, quoted by TASS January 19.

President Putin added that it also applies "to people living in this region and considers Russian the language of their mother and Russian as their homeland."

Earlier, President Putin had repeatedly called for a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, highlighting the need to consider Russia's interests when dealing with the root causes of the crisis.

According to President Putin, this is the only way to build long-term peace, which is what Moscow wants.

United States President Donald Trump continues to seek the Russian-Ukraine ceasefire and peace he has promised since the campaign period.

After a separate meeting between the United States and Ukraine and the United States with Russia, Moscow and Kyiv finally met in person last week.

On May 16, negotiations were held between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey. After the meeting, Moscow and Kiev agreed to exchange prisoners of war for a formula "1,000 for 1,000", conveying their concept of potential ceasefires in the future, outlining them in detail, and continuing the negotiation process.

The last two countries' direct negotiations took place in 2022, shortly after Russia held a special military operation in Ukraine. Negotiations at that time were held in Belarus and then moved to Turkey. However, no agreement has yet been reached at that time.