At a meeting with African leaders, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has said that Russia withdrew its army from Kyiv last year because it was "asked to do so to create conditions" for signing a peace treaty.

Source: Putin quoted by Russian Telegram channels Astra and Sota

Quote: "Essentially, a draft of this [peace – ed.] agreement was agreed upon. But after the withdrawal of our troops from near Kyiv, which we were asked to do to create conditions for the conclusion of the final agreement, the Kyiv authorities rejected all previous agreements."

Details: The Sota Telegram channel pointed out that the fragment with Putin's statements about the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv had disappeared from the Kremlin's Telegram channel, although it was originally present in the video, and is not currently available in the textual transcript on the Kremlin's website.

In July 2022, Putin already claimed that the Russians withdrew from the Ukrainian capital "to create conditions for negotiations".

Background: During a meeting with African leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine's "neutral status" is of fundamental importance to Russia.

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