Chancellor says Austria prepared to host Russia-Ukraine discussions
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has extended an invitation to facilitate peace talks between Moscow and Kiev at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has proposed Vienna as a location for peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.
During the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's openness to negotiations and mentioned several nations that could act as mediators.
“We take note of the Russian president’s statements regarding his openness for peace talks with Ukraine. Any negotiations must take place without preconditions and at eye level,” Nehammer stated on Thursday.
“Austria will be ready to support a just and lasting peace based on international law and to serve as a venue for negotiations as the seat of the OSCE,” he added, referring to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
While Putin has yet to respond to Nehammer’s proposal, his comments in Vladivostok align with Moscow’s consistent willingness to engage with Kiev’s legitimate representatives.
Among the potential mediators mentioned by Putin are China, Brazil, and India, leaders who “sincerely want to understand the situation.” He also noted that Moscow has been in contact with these nations regarding the negotiations.
Ukraine had previously disrupted the peace talks in Istanbul in April 2022 at the insistence of the US and its allies. Since then, Kiev has insisted on conducting international “peace summits” without Russia, adhering to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “peace formula,” a ten-point proposal that Moscow has dismissed as unreasonable.
Putin has outlined his own conditions for a ceasefire, which include Ukraine’s complete withdrawal from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Russia.
Nehammer's proposal coincides with the tenth anniversary of the OSCE's involvement in mediating the original Minsk Agreement, which aimed to settle the conflict between the US-backed Ukrainian government and the two Donbass republics that sought independence. In December 2022, former German chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that the Minsk Agreements were merely a tactic to give Ukraine time to prepare for a conflict with Russia.
Although Moscow remains a member of the OSCE, it suspended its activities in the organization’s parliamentary assembly in July.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
During the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's openness to negotiations and mentioned several nations that could act as mediators.
“We take note of the Russian president’s statements regarding his openness for peace talks with Ukraine. Any negotiations must take place without preconditions and at eye level,” Nehammer stated on Thursday.
“Austria will be ready to support a just and lasting peace based on international law and to serve as a venue for negotiations as the seat of the OSCE,” he added, referring to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
While Putin has yet to respond to Nehammer’s proposal, his comments in Vladivostok align with Moscow’s consistent willingness to engage with Kiev’s legitimate representatives.
Among the potential mediators mentioned by Putin are China, Brazil, and India, leaders who “sincerely want to understand the situation.” He also noted that Moscow has been in contact with these nations regarding the negotiations.
Ukraine had previously disrupted the peace talks in Istanbul in April 2022 at the insistence of the US and its allies. Since then, Kiev has insisted on conducting international “peace summits” without Russia, adhering to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “peace formula,” a ten-point proposal that Moscow has dismissed as unreasonable.
Putin has outlined his own conditions for a ceasefire, which include Ukraine’s complete withdrawal from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Russia.
Nehammer's proposal coincides with the tenth anniversary of the OSCE's involvement in mediating the original Minsk Agreement, which aimed to settle the conflict between the US-backed Ukrainian government and the two Donbass republics that sought independence. In December 2022, former German chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that the Minsk Agreements were merely a tactic to give Ukraine time to prepare for a conflict with Russia.
Although Moscow remains a member of the OSCE, it suspended its activities in the organization’s parliamentary assembly in July.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
