Putin comments on Trump's statements on the Ukrainian crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that he is not aware of any proposals by former US President Donald Trump regarding a peaceful end to the Ukrainian crisis, stressing that Moscow takes his statements seriously.

Putin said during a press conference with Russian media following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit: "The fact is that Mr. Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, and we take this seriously. Of course, I am not aware of his possible proposals on how he intends to do this, and this is of course the main question, but I have no doubt that he says this sincerely and we will support him."

The Russian president pointed out that Moscow has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine, and said: "We have always supported negotiations, and you know that very well, we have never refused them, and it seems unlikely that we will finally end the conflict with the help of mediators and only through them."

He explained that resolving the conflict through a mediator is impossible because this mediator is unlikely to have the authority to sign the final document.

Putin also noted that Russia is ready for dialogue with the United States, saying that "there are signals from the United States about its readiness to start a dialogue on strategic stability, but then they disappear and start talking about abstract topics."

He added: "Let's wait for the formation of the new administration and understand what its plans and preferences are, I want to repeat once again: we are ready for this."

The Russian president arrived in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Wednesday morning to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, held under the slogan "Strengthening multilateral dialogue - striving for sustainable peace and development."

President Putin took part in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Thursday.

The final statement of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries in Astana called for the non-militarization of space, compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, strict adherence to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development and Production of Biological and Toxin Weapons, and a comprehensive reform of the UN system in order to strengthen its authority.