Putin Invites Zelensky to Moscow With “Full Security” Guarantees That History Says Are Worthless
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed Tuesday that Vladimir Putin has again invited Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Moscow for face-to-face talks, promising every necessary condition including personal safety and immunity.
The offer came during a rare 90-minute call with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who reportedly passed along Zelenskyy’s interest in direct negotiations.
Ushakov said Putin’s response was straightforward: if the Ukrainian leader truly wants talks, he should come to the Russian capital where protections will be arranged. The conversation also covered plans to resume trilateral discussions among Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, potentially in Abu Dhabi.
This is not a new idea. Similar invitations have been floated before and rejected, with Zelenskyy countering that Putin should come to Kyiv instead. Moscow continues to insist the venue must be on its own terms.
Skepticism is immediate and widespread. Russian assurances on safety have a long track record of collapse—Budapest Memorandum security pledges, “green corridors” that became kill zones, and the fate of figures who trusted Kremlin deals.
Online reactions to the news quickly cited those precedents, along with other broken commitments, as reasons to treat the latest guarantee as empty words while the war continues.
The invitation keeps the diplomatic theater moving without altering the core demand that any high-level meeting happen under Russian control. Whether it advances real negotiations or simply buys time remains an open question.