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Kremlin denies Musk spoke with Putin before ‘tweeting’ vision for Ukraine peace deal

Dmitry Peskov stressed that Musk and Putin communicated over phone a year and a half ago

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. An alleged conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American businessman Ilon Musk did not take place before the entrepreneur published his proposals for a settlement to the Ukraine crisis on social media, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"No, that's not true," the Kremlin spokesman told reporters Wednesday, noting that Musk and Putin communicated over phone a year and a half ago.

In a Twitter post on October 3, Musk outlined his vision of conditions for peace in Ukraine. In his opinion, holding referendums in Russia’s new regions under UN supervision could be a solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, Musk noted that Ukraine could become a neutral country. He later wrote that he "does not believe Ukraine will win" if Russia holds total mobilization.

On Tuesday, reports appeared citing Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group, an international research and consulting firm, that Musk had allegedly discussed a Ukrainian settlement with Putin several weeks ago, after which he tweeted his plan on the issue.

According to Bremmer, who is cited by Weiss, Musk claimed that Putin was "ready to negotiate," but only on the condition that Crimea remained part of Russia, Ukraine accepted neutral status, and recognized the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as part of Russia. Musk later denied this information, saying that he had not discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with the Russian president. According to him, he "spoke to Putin only once, about 18 months ago". The topic of discussion at the time was space.

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