As Putin dictates terms, Kremlin says Russia remains 'cautiously optimistic' in peace talks

A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin dictated terms in response to the 30-day ceasefire proposal, the Kremlin has said that Russia remains “cautiously optimistic” in US-mediated peace talks.

In the US-Ukraine talks earlier this week, a proposal for a 30-day partial ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia emerged. Ukraine has accepted the proposal and the ball is in Russia’s court.

While Putin accepted the idea of a ceasefire, he junked the terms and dictated his own . He said the proposal that emergedout of US-Ukraine talks “will be good for the Ukrainian side”.

“The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it, but there are nuances that we need to discuss and I think that we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partners,” said Putin at a press conference on Thursday.

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Russia is ‘cautiously optimistic’, sent signals to US, says Kremlin

A day after Putin’s remarks, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has sent a message to Trump via his envoy Steve Witkoff about the ceasefire propsoal, according to Reuters.

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Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday and held talks late in the evening with Putin. Peskov said that Witkoff provided details of the ceasefire proposal and Putin sent “signals” to Trump with his message, as per the news agency.

Peskov further said, “There are certainly reasons to be cautiously optimistic. You heard a very important statement yesterday from President Putin… He said that he supports President Trump’s position in terms of a settlement, but he voiced some questions that need to be answered together. So, yes indeed, there is still a lot to be done, but nevertheless, the president expressed solidarity with Mr. Trump’s position.”

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Putin responds to truce proposal with maximalist demands

Even though the United States expects Russia to accept the 30-day ceasefire proposal, Putin on Thursday sought to dictate the terms.

Among Putin’s demands were some longstanding maximalist demands, such as the addressal of what Russia calls ‘root cause’ of the conflict, and several tactical demands, such as how the ceasefire would be implemented on the ground and how it would be monitored. Critics of Putin have said that, in the guise of figuring out such details, Putin is delaying talks to maximise gains of the battlefield.

After saying that “nuances” need to be addressed, Putin went on to list his demands: Ukrainian troops in Kursk would not be allowed to withdraw, they would need to surrender; Ukraine would not receive weapons during the ceasefire; and Ukraine would neither mobilise or train soldiers during the ceasefire.

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In an apprent reference to longstanding maximalist demands, Putin further said that he wanted a such terms that lead to “long-term peace” and “eliminate the original causes of this crisis”.

Putin has long demanded that Ukraine should abandon the desire to join Nato, enshrine neutrality in its constitution, limit the size of its military, recognise the territory under Russian occupation as Russian sovereign territory, include Russian language in formal business, among other demands. Critics of the demands have said that accepting such demands would mean Ukraine ceding sovereignty to Russia.