Zelenskyy met with Russian billionaire Abramovich to deliver a message to Putin
The meeting took place in Kyiv in May.
Roman Abramovich. Photo: AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in May in Kyiv with Russian billionaire, former owner of Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, to deliver a message to Vladimir Putin about peace negotiations, reports the Financial Times, citing four people familiar with the situation.
Zelenskyy asked Abramovich to convey to Putin that he is ready to meet for the first bilateral summit since 2022.
The message Zelenskyy conveyed through Abramovich was similar to an open letter to Putin, which Zelenskyy had published earlier. But the tone was less antagonistic.
Kyiv hopes that its success in halting the Russian offensive (which has slowed to a minimum in recent months) and inflicting damage with long-range aerial strikes deep into Russia will play into its hands.
However, Putin remains confident that Russia's resource advantage will eventually exhaust Ukraine, and has shown no interest in meeting with Zelenskyy.
Putin stated on Friday that on May 21, after the businessman's trip to Kyiv, he met with one of the representatives of business circles and told him that he saw no point in meeting with Zelenskyy.
The Russian president added that the businessman was not acting in an official capacity.
Abramovich has been helping to mediate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since the first weeks of the war in 2022.
The oligarch participated in organizing a round of negotiations in Istanbul in March 2022. Later that year, Abramovich also helped to broker a deal to ensure the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
Although Abramovich's role has become less prominent since Russia began direct negotiations with the US last year, he remains involved in prisoner exchanges and other bilateral talks with Ukraine, including aspects of the stalled peace plan promoted by the US, according to people close to him.
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