Moscow on talks with Kyiv: ‘We want this agreement to last for generations’
“We need a peaceful, free, independent Ukraine”
The talks between Russia and Ukraine are tough and slow. Head of the Russian delegation, the president’s aide Vladimir Medinsky has described the situation this way.
“Of course, we would like all this to go much faster, it is a sincere aspiration of the Russian side. We want to achieve peace as soon as possible,” TASS cites him.
He has called the task of the group of negotiators is to find those in a myriad of complex issues where consensus can be reached.
“We want this agreement to last for generations so that our children will also live in peace whose foundation is laid by this negotiating process,” Medinsky said.
The goal at these negotiations is the same Russia set at the beginning of the special military operations, has noted the aide to the Russian president:
“We need a peaceful, free, independent Ukraine, a neutral one, not a member of military blocs, not a NATO member, a country that would be our friend, neighbour we would develop relations, build our future with and that would not be a springboard for a military and economic attack on our country. Therefore our goal doesn’t change.”
Ukraine offers Swedish or Austrian demilitarisation option
According to him, “literally every number, every letter in the agreements” is discussed with the Ukrainian side very carefully. Moreover, Kyiv’s statements about the removal of Ukraine’s denazification from the agenda of the talks isn’t really consistent with reality, has noted Medinsky.
“Ukraine proposes Austrian, Swedish option of a neutral, demilitarised state but at the same time a state that has its own army and navy,” he has claimed.
Later, the Kremlin has answered the question if such a demilitarisation option suits it.
“This is the option that is indeed now discussed and can be considered as some compromise,” has claimed the Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Sanctions discussed during the talks too
Medinsky has noted that sanctions are being discussed with Ukraine too:
“Without doubt, the sanctions of Russia and Ukraine and all this crazy situation with economic sanctions, which already resembles a real, fully-fledged unseen economic war against Russia, not sanctions. And this stance is one of the key topics for talks at every meeting,” he has said.
Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that the topic of sanctions appears during the talks between the representatives of Russia and Ukraine but hasn’t unveiled details.
Read all the details about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in Realnoe Vremya’s report.