Opening up communication with the Russian president could undermine unity in the EU, the Ukrainian leader has said
Western politicians should not communicate with Russian President Vladimir Putin because it could open Pandora’s box, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has warned.
In an interview with Sky News on Friday, Zelensky said he is worried that Putin’s rhetoric could undermine unity in the West regarding support for Ukraine.
“If we will lose this [unity], I am afraid that we can lose everything,” the Ukrainian leader said.
When the Russian president “speaks about something, some leaders in the world are afraid,” he stated. “When they are afraid, they begin to communicate with their societies… they divide their societies. Then they communicate with other leaders and divide the unity in Europe.”
According to Zelensky, this leads to more pressure from Moscow through actions such as Oreshnik missile strikes or updates to its nuclear doctrine. The recently approved document allows for a nuclear response by Russia to a conventional attack from a non-nuclear state backed by a power that possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Zelensky said he was not surprised when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reached out to Putin for the first time in nearly two years in mid-November, noting that Scholz later explained to him that “he wants to speak and to understand what Putin is thinking about.” Zelensky responded that he “cannot support this as it opens this new page – this Pandora’s box,” meaning that other Western officials will begin to talk to the Russian president as well.
There are politicians who would like to communicate with the Russian president simply because they are looking to be “on the first page of newspapers” and for “everybody [to] speak about them that they can communicate with Putin,” Zelensky claimed.
Putin commented on his phone call with Scholz during a press conference in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana on Thursday, saying their conversation mainly focused on Ukraine.
“There was nothing unusual about it, I think, either for him, or for me. He laid out his position, I laid out mine, and each of us has remained of the same mind on this matter,” the Russian president said.
“Strange as it may seem, we stay in communication with many countries with which we have very strained relations. Indeed, I did not have direct contacts with the leaders of these countries. But I am aware that some of them are also willing to resume contacts with us, and to discuss the ongoing developments in Ukraine bilaterally and in the pan-European context.”
Putin stressed that Moscow remains open to contact with these countries. “We, including me, have never turned down such contacts and will never turn them down in the future. If anyone is willing to talk, they are welcome to do so,” he said.
