Kremlin Pushes Back On Rpt Claiming Putin 'Testing Waters' On US Talks

The Kremlin has pushed back on a 25 Jan Bloomberg report claiming that "Vladimir Putin is testing the waters on whether the US is ready to engage in talks for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine." Kremlin spox Dmitri Peskov states that the report is "completely untrue". According to the article, Putin has "put out feelers to the US via indirect channels to signal he’s open to discussion, including potentially on future security arrangements for Ukraine, according to two people close to the Kremlin."

• BBG: "Putin, they said, may be willing to consider dropping an insistence on neutral status for Ukraine and even ultimately abandon opposition to eventual NATO membership - the threat of which has been a central Russian justification for the invasion."
• With both the EU and US struggling to reach agreement on new funding packages for Ukraine, the prospect of peace talks - whether realistic or not - could be viewed as an attempt by the Kremlin to force a wedge between EU nations or political camps in the United States and further delay agreement on providing Kyiv with aid and military support.
• Regarding separate reports regarding the possibility of Ukraine not extentind its its gas transit deal to Europe into 2025, Peskov states that "It's still possibly to export LNG, there are other routes." saying that "This will lead to changes in logistics chains."