A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov, said Moscow will reject the peace plan the United States is trying to coordinate with Ukraine and European partners.
As Washington holds intensive talks to align a peace proposal with stakeholders, Moscow is openly dismissing it. Ushakov again insisted the Kremlin will not accept any alterations to the document.
Russian media circulated Ushakov’s remarks on the morning of December 21, amid talks underway in Miami.
Ushakov reiterated that Moscow has not yet seen the latest version of the plan, but is already opposed to it.
“I am more than sure that the provisions introduced and being pushed by the Europeans together with the Ukrainians clearly violate the documents and the possibility of achieving a long-term peace… We received signals via the press, but I personally have not seen any papers,” Putin’s representative said.
He added that a trilateral format is “being worked out,” in which Ukrainian and Russian delegations would meet with Washington as mediator.
Speaking about Kremlin representative Kirill Dmitriev’s participation in the Miami talks, Ushakov quipped: “He only doesn’t know how to play golf; everything else he does the right way.”
That appeared to hint Dmitriev has managed to establish contacts with the White House. The golf reference may also be deliberate, given it is a favorite sport of President Donald Trump.
Experts note a lack of willingness within Russia’s leadership to end the war and negotiate peace. They say Moscow is simulating talks to buy time to continue its aggression while trying to avoid new sanctions and additional weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
A clear signal, analysts say, came during Putin’s “Direct Line” call-in show, where he demanded that Ukraine hand over not only the Donbas but also parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions—territory his army has been unable to capture. This demand runs counter even to the much-discussed 28-point plan that, according to Western media, was drafted in Moscow and is being presented by the United States as its own initiative.
