Moscow Rejects Ukraine Proposal for UN-Mediated Peace Talks

Moscow's ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov (L), Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko (2L), presidential aide and the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky (2R), and chairman of the Russian State Duma's international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky (R) speak to the media in Belarus' Brest region on March 7, 2022. Maxim Guchek/Belta/AFP via Getty Images

Russian officials have soundly rejected a proposal by Ukraine’s foreign minister to convene a peace summit between the two warring parties sometime in February.

Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, described the proposal—under which Russia would have to submit to a “war crimes tribunal”—as “a smokescreen.”