Sergei Lavrov once again indicated a willingness to hold talks. Previous negotiations have failed because of Ukraine - a one-sided view.
Moscow – President Vladimir Putin repeatedly points out that he prefers “talks to fights and wars,” said Sergei Lavrov, according to the Russian state news agency
Tass
on Friday (April 19). Russia's Foreign Minister said that they had repeatedly said that they were ready for talks in the Ukraine war. In “contrary to the history of Istanbul” – a reference to the negotiations taking place there on March 29, 2022 – “no breaks in fighting will be announced for the duration of the talks”. The “process” must continue, said the Foreign Minister.
At that time, the Ukrainians realized that they had “gone too far by bombing the Donbass and using direct methods of genocide against Russians on their own soil” and then proposed talks, Lavrov said. At that time, Moscow demanded “to repeal laws that discriminate against ethnic minorities, especially Russian ones, and to stop supporting movements based on Nazi ideas condemned by the Nuremberg Tribunal.” However, Ukraine rejected this and broke off the negotiations.
Putin was not ready for a meeting: Ukrainian authorities “cannot be trusted”?
In fact, it was Putin who made the negotiations significantly more difficult. He told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in a phone call at the time that the time was not yet ripe for a ceasefire or a meeting with Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian side only terminated the negotiations when Russia announced the death penalty for the 1,700 Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Battle of the Azov Steel Plant. Zelensky had previously ruled out further negotiations if civilians or captured military personnel were murdered.
For the Russian Foreign Minister the situation is different; He sees Ukraine unilaterally breaking off negotiations. In addition, Lavrov continued, any further offer of talks would be free anyway. Finally, Zelensky “forbade himself from having conversations.” And the Ukrainian authorities “cannot be trusted” anyway.
Lavrov sees a different situation on the ground - and blames Ukraine
The situation on site has now changed and this needs to be taken into account. But the Ukrainians simply wouldn't understand this. “It's very clear that they don't understand. And they are also not prepared to look for possible compromises. For them there is only the Zelensky formula and no alternatives,” Lavrov concluded.
Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's peace formula. This calls on Moscow to withdraw its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international court for its actions.
An agreement along the lines of 2022? Not a viable path for Zelenskyj
However, Moscow recently announced that it was ready for new negotiations based on the failed 2022 peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly said that Russia and Ukraine were close to agreeing on a deal to end hostilities at talks in Istanbul in April 2022. However, Ukraine canceled it again after the withdrawal of Russian troops from near Kiev.
The agreement is said to have contained clauses that require Ukraine to adopt a geopolitically neutral status and not join NATO, limit the size of its armed forces and grant special status to eastern Ukraine - which Zelensky rejects. The Ukrainian president himself seems to rule out that the 2022 talks could serve as a basis for further discussions. According to
Reuters
on April 12,
Zelensky said that the meetings at that time were not actually talks.
“If one side, no matter in which country or in which city, issues an ultimatum, then these are not negotiations,” Zelensky continued.
(tpn)