Ukraine conflict: Putin's chief negotiator sees "Russia's entire existence" threatened

Created: 03/25/2022, 10:43 am

By: Patrick Freiwah

Russia's negotiator Vladimir Medinsky (right) and Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov at peace talks at the end of February.

© Alexander Kryazhev/Imago

For Russia, nothing is at stake in the Ukraine war other than the continued existence of the nation.

US President Joe Biden is in Poland.

All information in the news ticker.

• Ukraine conflict

  *

  : Moscow declares that the West wants to destroy the country and that "Russia's very existence is at stake".

• Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden* is traveling to Poland to get an idea of ​​the aid efforts for Ukraine refugees in the country of the NATO ally.

• Our

  news ticker on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations

  is constantly updated.

  Background information on the Ukraine crisis* can be found here.

Kyiv/Moscow - Like ex-president Dmitry Medvedev before him, Vladimir Medinsky accused the West of destructive intentions towards Russia.

"Today, the very existence of Russia as a Russian civilization is at stake," said the Russian negotiator for the Ukraine war negotiations.

"They urge us to destroy the political system, to destroy the country."

Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine a month ago on February 24 (chronology*).

Medinski heads the Russian delegation, which shortly thereafter began negotiations with Ukrainian representatives to end the war - so far without success.

In all of history to date there have been few situations comparable to this one.

In this context, Medinski mentions the Russian revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine conflict: Russia fights against "destruction" - and a decline in values ​​​​in the country

Russia's negotiator in the negotiations has also spoken out in favor of less entertainment on Russian TV.

"Come on, colleagues, a little fewer entertainment programs," Medinski said, according to the state agency TASS, at a meeting of the commission for historical education, which he chairs.

He laments the decline in values ​​that the country is also perceiving in the West: “It somehow looks pretty funny these days.

We all try to pretend that everything is the same, but no.” It should rather be shown “good Soviet and Russian cinema”, but also “good foreign cinema”.

Ukraine conflict: Russia observes "rapprochements" - war opponents denied

Apparently, there are still no tangible results in the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow in the Ukraine conflict.

Russia's chief negotiator Medinsky said Friday that positions on Ukraine's neutral status and progress on the country's demilitarization were "converging".

A neutral status would mean that Ukraine will not join NATO.

Ukraine adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter that his country's demands remained unchanged: "ceasefire, withdrawal of (Russian) troops and strong security guarantees with concrete wording".

Meanwhile, in the midst of the Ukraine war, US President Joe Biden travels to Poland to visit the town of Rzeszow near the Ukrainian border.

As the White House announced, his Polish colleague Andrzej Duda is to receive him at the city's airport, which is about 80 kilometers from the border.

He wanted to get an idea of ​​the aid efforts for the Ukrainian war refugees.