Kremlin aide: If Zelensky calls, Putin will answer

Russia's "Interfax" quoted Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying on the 1st that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to accept a call from Ukrainian President Zelensky because Putin has never refused dialogue.

"I think of course he will answer it. Putin has never refused dialogue," Oshakov said.

Ukraine has yet to respond. Since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Zelensky has repeatedly expressed his willingness to negotiate face-to-face with Putin, but Putin has repeatedly declined.

When asked whether Moscow believed that European countries should also participate in negotiations to end the Russo-Ukrainian war, Oshakov said that relevant negotiations should first be held in the form of a tripartite participation of Russia, Ukraine and the United States... "We have always maintained working contact with the United States. Therefore, at least in the first few rounds of a series of negotiations, it is certainly more logical to adopt a trilateral form (Russia, Ukraine, and the United States)."

Russia, Ukraine, and the United States are expected to hold trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates in November.