'Putin will talk to leader Zelensky if the US does not intervene'
The United States should not intervene if it wants Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to sit down at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict, US professor John Mearsheimer said in an interview with YouTube channel Lex Fridman.
"The US needs to stay out of this. And then, I think, if Zelensky and Putin are still there, then you still have a small chance," the expert noted.
According to him, neither the US nor the UK promotes dialogue between Moscow and Kiev but destroys any agreement that the two countries could reach.
“The United States is responsible for everything,” Mearsheimer concluded.
Military campaign in Donbass
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. President Putin called its goal "to protect those who have been subjected to repression and genocide by the Kiev regime for the past eight years." He noted that the special military operation was a forced measure, Russia "has no other options, the security risk has been created to such an extent that it is impossible to respond with other measures."
According to him, Russia has been trying for 30 years to come to terms with NATO on security principles in Europe, but in response it has been met with either cruel deception and lies, or pressure and blackmail, while the alliance, despite Moscow's objections, has gradually expanded and approached the borders of the Russian Federation.
