Zelensky, Putin remain in contact, with no plans to meet soon

Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President
Putin have no plans to meet ahead of the next Normandy Format summit planned for
April, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Jan. 24.
At the same time, “quite a constructive working contact has been established
between the presidents,” he said, as reported by Interfax.

Recall, the President’s Office of Ukraine made an
attempt to arrange a meeting between Zelensky and Putin during the Holocaust
summit in Israel on Jan. 23, Russian Presidential Aide Yuriy Ushakov said the
prior day, as reported by the TASS news agency. Peskov attributed the inability
to arrange a meeting to Zelensky opting out of attending the World Holocaust
Forum meeting, where Putin spoke.

Zenon Zawada: The
President’s Office said any meeting between Putin and Zelensky would be
exclusively to arrange the release of war prisoners, so their inability to talk
in Israel on Jan. 23 doesn’t affect their attempts to find peace in Donbas.
Though Zelensky’s absence was the source of scandal in Israel, his gesture was
in line with Polish President Andrzej Duda’s refusal, which he attributed to Putin
gaining an unfair platform for his distorted views. Fortunately, Putin’s
remarks were relatively tame, though he didn’t pass up the chance to make
veiled remarks on Ukrainian complicity in the Holocaust and ongoing xenophobia.