Putin has been calling for negotiations since he took power 20 years ago. He’s been appeasing the West and their insistence on marching the world’s first transnational nuclear military to Russia’s borders while asking for negotiations the entire time. In 2014 he ordered the invasion of Crimea in response to USA-backed militias violently taking over Ukraine by storming the capital and forcing the president to flee under threat of death and he was still talking about international agreements and negotiations. Negotiations have always been on the table.