No invitation for Vladimir Putin to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit was sent through official channels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on June 16.

“Of course not. And there are no official channels between Moscow and Kyiv, as you know. As for Zelensky, Putin has said everything, made all the proposals, said and repeated more than once that if Zelensky is ready to speak responsibly and seriously — and the ‘Kyiv regime’ knows perfectly well what that means — he can always come to Moscow, where he will be received,” Peskov said.

The day before, Ukraine’s president said he had proposed a meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. A source at RBC-Ukraine said Kyiv had sent the proposal through several channels, including intermediaries, diplomats, and intelligence services, and that the Kremlin gave no clear response.

On June 4, Volodymyr Zelensky published an open letter to Vladimir Putin, proposing that the Russian president meet in person to negotiate an end to the war. The following day, Putin, speaking at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, said he saw no point in meeting with Zelensky at this time.

Putin also said that Zelensky had asked him for a personal meeting through a Russian businessman — several weeks before publishing the open letter. It later emerged that the businessman was Roman Abramovich.