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Putin must negotiate, says Starmer

Agence France-Presse . London, United Kingdom  15 March, 2025, 22:12

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Russian president Vladimir Putin. | File photo

British prime minister Keir Starmer on Saturday said Russian president Vladimir Putin would ‘sooner or later’ have to ‘come to the table’ as he opened a virtual gathering to drum up support for Ukraine.

‘My feeling is that sooner or later, he’s going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion,’ Starmer told about 25 fellow leaders who joined the virtual summit.

The talks hosted in a call set up by Downing Street aim to urge participating countries to sign up to a coalition willing to protect any eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.

Starmer told allies the meeting would focus on three points ‘strengthening Ukraine, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing and keeping that pressure on Russia at this crucial time’.

He said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky had shown that Ukraine was the ‘party of peace because he has agreed to and committed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire’.

‘Putin is the one trying to delay... if Putin is serious about peace, I think it’s very simple, he has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire, and the world is watching,’ he added.

‘We can’t allow president Putin to play games with president Trump’s deal,’ Starmer said in comments released by Downing Street late Friday.

‘The Kremlin’s complete disregard for president Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace.

‘If Russia finally comes to the table, then we must be ready to monitor a ceasefire to ensure it is a serious, and enduring peace. If they don’t, then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war,’ he added.

Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to assemble a so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ ever since Trump opened direct negotiations with Moscow last month.

They say the group is necessary—along with US support—to provide Ukraine with security guarantees by deterring Putin from violating any ceasefire.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday also confirmed the call and said he had discussed ‘technical aspects’ of how the ceasefire could be implemented with Macron.

‘Our teams continue to work on clear security guarantees, and they will be ready soon,’ Zelensky said on social media platform X.

Macron called on Russia late Friday to accept the proposal for a ceasefire, and stop making statements aimed at ‘delaying the process’.

The French president also demanded that Moscow stop its ‘acts of violence’ in Ukraine.

Germany on Friday likewise criticised Putin’s response to the US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine as ‘at best a delaying tactic’.

‘One must seriously question whether there is a genuine interest in working toward a lasting ceasefire and a resolution,’ foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer told reporters.

Turkey has indicated it could play a part in peacekeeping efforts, while Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin has said Irish troops would not be deployed in any ‘deterrent force’.

Starmer has said he welcomes any offer of support, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.

British Commonwealth partners Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been involved in early talks and are due to dial in to the summit.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has already rejected the idea of sending Italian troops to Ukraine.