Kremlin plays down report on progress in talks

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia was putting colossal energy into talks on a possible peace deal with Ukraine that could swiftly stop the Russian military operation there.

"Our delegation is putting in colossal effort and demonstrates more readiness towards them than the other side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Agreeing such a document, the observance of all its parameters and their implementation could very quickly stop what is happening."

Asked about a Financial Times report that Ukraine and Russia had made significant progress on a tentative peace plan, Peskov said: "It is not right – there are elements there that are right but on the whole it is incorrect."

The Kremlin, he said, would announce progress when there was progress to report. "Address all other questions to the Financial Times though," Peskov quipped.

Peskov said US President Joe Biden's claim that President Vladimir Putin was a "war criminal" was unacceptable and that the United States had no right to lecture Russia after its involvement in so many conflicts.

The Kremlin also rejected an order by the UN's top court for Russia to suspend the military offensive in Ukraine, a day after judges in The Hague announced their ruling.

"We cannot take this decision into account," Peskov said, adding that both parties, Russia and Ukraine, had to agree for the ruling to be implemented. "No consent can be obtained in this case," Peskov said.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that many people in Russia were showing themselves to be "traitors" and pointed to those who were resigning from their jobs and leaving the country. On Wednesday, Putin delivered a stark warning to Russian "traitors" who he said the West wanted to use as a "fifth column" to destroy the country.

"In such difficult times ... many people show their true colors. Very many people are showing themselves, as we say in Russian, to be traitors," Peskov said.

"They vanish from society themselves. Some people are leaving their posts, some are leaving their active work life, some leave the country and move to other countries. That is how this cleansing happens."