©Sergey Bobylev/TASS
Russia maintains its stance on the issues that are required for the resolution of the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
"Our position has not changed dramatically. We are open to the dialogue, but we will be guided by our legitimate interests and will balance approaches to a possible settlement with the situation on the ground," Lavrov said in an interview with Lenta.ru daily.
Lenta : Recently, several peace initiatives in Ukraine have appeared at once - Chinese, Indonesian, Vatican and African. Which one is closer to the vision of Russia? Are such initiatives generally not premature?
Sergei Lavrov: First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to our partners for their efforts to find ways for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
We do not consider their initiatives premature - for the Russian side, peace is always a priority compared to hostilities.
Therefore, let me remind you that we already participated in the negotiation process with the Ukrainian side in the spring of 2022 and approached a positive
Lenta : However, all efforts were thwarted by the Anglo-Saxons, whose plans clearly did not include the cessation of hostilities. They were and remain obsessed with the manic idea of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.
Sergey Lavrov : Of course, we have carefully studied all the peace initiatives that have been received.
We held special consultations with a number of partners and discussed their ideas in detail. In mid-June, Russian President Vladimir Putin received the heads of several African states in St. Petersburg.
At the end of May, we had a very confidential and warm meeting in Moscow with the Special Representative of the PRC Government for Eurasian Affairs, the head of the Chinese delegation to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, Li Hui. We had a meaningful conversation with Celso Amorim, Assistant to the President of Brazil for International Affairs, who visited Russia in the last days of March.
Lenta : We share many of the proposals of our partners. For example, such as respecting international law and the UN Charter, abandoning the Cold War mentality, resolving the humanitarian crisis, ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants, ending unilateral sanctions, refusing to use the world economy for political purposes
Sergey Lavrov : At the same time, we are forced to state the absolute unwillingness of the Western curators of Vladimir Zelensky to go for any form of de-escalation. The Kiev regime directly and outright rejected the possibility of negotiations based on peace initiatives proposed by China, Brazil and African countries. Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said that "negotiations would become meaningless, dangerous and deadly for Ukraine and Europe."
Lenta : In Kyiv, they did not find anything better than to beg for evidence of "reliability" from those who would like to become an intermediary in the negotiation process
Sergey Lavrov : In particular, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov demanded that China persuade Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine. Otherwise, contacts with Chinese negotiators will be, in the view of this Kyiv figure, a waste of time.
Photo: Alexander Vilf / RIA Novosti
Lenta : Against the background of Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed rebellion, a "secret meeting" of Western countries, Brazil, India, China, Turkey and South Africa was reported in Copenhagen, where peace talks on Ukraine were discussed. Did you receive signals about the meeting from partners?
Sergey Lavrov : We did not receive such signals. There is every reason to believe that this information is unreliable, given the stubborn desire of Kyiv and its Western handlers to follow the path of escalating hostilities.
Lenta : As we have repeatedly emphasized, Russia has never abandoned dialogue as a political means to achieve the goals of the NWO
What provisions of the Istanbul Treaty remain relevant for Russia?
Sergey Lavrov As for our vision of a settlement, even before the start of the special military operation we clearly outlined its tasks. This is the protection of the population of Donbass, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, the elimination of security threats that emanate from the territory of this country.
Lenta : During the negotiations with Kiev, which took place on his initiative in February-April 2022, an understanding was reached that Ukraine should return to a neutral non-bloc status, refuse to join NATO, confirm its non-nuclear status
Sergey Lavrov : In addition, new territorial realities associated with the free expression of will of the inhabitants of the people's republics of Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in favor of political unity with Russia should be recognized. The Kyiv authorities need to ensure the rights of Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities in Ukraine, including the official status of the Russian language.
As for the meeting in Copenhagen, its main goal was to convince the representatives of the Global South to at least to some extent support Volodymyr Zelensky’s “peace formula”, which is absolutely unacceptable and unpromising, which we openly tell our partners from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Lenta : Since the conflict, rooted in the 2014 coup in Ukraine, has a geopolitical dimension, the issue of Russian security guarantees on our western borders will also need to be addressed.
Sergey Lavrov : Let me remind you that this is precisely what the initiative put forward by President Vladimir Putin in December 2021 was aimed at. Then the West, represented by the United States and NATO, arrogantly rejected it.
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