Russia said Monday that peace negotiations to end the war with Ukraine are "impossible" now because no conditions are in place to hold them.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said negotiations "are now impossible since there are no conditions for them either de facto or de jure," according to Newsweek, which cited a report from Russian state news agency Tass.
Peskov said by what Moscow is hearing from Kyiv, "we know the legal justification of the impossibility of negotiations" on the part of Ukraine and that "de facto, one thing can be recognized — there are no conditions for such negotiations."
During a visit to South Africa on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine needs to make clear through mediators its stance on peace negotiations.
"It might be possible to go and ask any mediator to make it clear how the Ukrainian side sees the further march of events," Lavrov said during a news conference, according to Tass. "We, as [Putin] said, do not refuse to negotiate. But those who refuse must be aware: The longer they refuse to hold talks, the more difficult it will be to identify a solution."
Lavrov also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin was president. Zelenskyy said that last fall but softened his stance and said he was more open to peace talks, but only on Ukraine’s terms.
In a December meeting with President Joe Biden, Zelenskyy proposed a 10-point peace plan that includes restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and the withdrawal of all Russian troops and cessation of hostilities. Russia rejected the plan and said any negotiations must include the annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.