Washington, Sept 1 (UNI), Lenka White – Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be reluctant to pursue a negotiated peace settlement due to fears of assassination by radical nationalists, renowned US economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs told RIA Novosti in an interview.
The interview was conducted ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will take place in Vladivostok from September 3–6. The economist is going to participate in a session “UN Development Agenda Beyond 2030.”
“The opinion shown in the Gallup poll just last month is an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians saying that they want the war to stop on the basis of negotiation. Zelensky shows no capacity to do that again, whether that’s a personal limitation or as I’ve been told, he’s afraid that he’ll lose his life to extreme nationalists if he tries to compromise,” Sachs said.
Sachs expressed his belief that Zelenskyy does not represent the will of the Ukrainian people.
On August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin met US President Donald Trump for talks in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 18, Trump hosted Zelenskyy and European leaders for talks at the White House. Trump then called Putin to discuss the peace process. Putin and Trump agreed that direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations should continue and discussed raising the level of representation, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.
Zelenskyy rejected all the proposals on the peace settlement that Trump presented during the August 18 meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News in late August.
