MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) – The leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Thursday that he was opposed to talks on ending the war in Ukraine and that Moscow should fight on.
“I believe the war must be taken to its conclusion… I am against negotiations,” Kadyrov told reporters at the Kremlin, where President Vladimir Putin was meeting the president of the United Arab Emirates.
Kadyrov, who calls himself Putin’s “foot soldier” is a prominent war hawk. His comment reflects a current of opinion among hardliners that Russia is winning the four-year-old war and should keep going, even as U.S. President Donald Trump steps up diplomatic efforts to end it.
However, the decision on whether and when to stop lies firmly with Putin. The Kremlin says Russia would prefer to achieve its goals in Ukraine through diplomacy, but that it will do so by military means if that is not possible.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn)
