Lavrov hinted that the war would end with signing of a treaty, but under a certain condition
Denys Karlovskyy - Monday, 25 April 2022, 23:23
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian-Ukrainian war would end with the signing of a treaty, but everything would depend on the course of hostilities.
Source: Sergei Lavrov live on the Russian propaganda tv channel "Pervii kanal" ("Channel One Russia")
Sergei Lavrov, Quote: "As in any situation when the armed forces are deployed, it’s all sure to end with a treaty. However, the parameters of this treaty will be determined by the stage of hostilities at the time this treaty becomes a reality."
Details: He claimed that Russia allegedly welcomed Ukraine's proposals, which were handed over during a round of face-to-face talks in Istanbul on March 29. According to him, those proposals addressed a number of issues Russian authorities are zealous to securet, in particular, the non-aligned status of Ukraine.
However, according to Sergei Lavrov, the United States and Great Britain allegedly intervened in the negotiation process later on and started to explain to Ukrainians how to modify the proposals.
Russia has allegedly sent an official response to Ukraine's proposals, which were handed over in Istanbul on March 29, but has not receivd a response.
The Russian Minister claims the Ukrainian delegation has allegedly changed the wording of their proposals after the meeting in Istanbul.
Sergei Lavrov, Quote: "The Istanbul document stated that ‘there will be no foreign military bases in Ukraine and no training will be conducted with the participation of foreign armed forces, except upon approval by all guarantor states, including Russia.’ This was written explicitly."
"The version they [Ukrainian delegation -ed.] gave us, following our positive reaction, read: ‘no exercises except upon the approval of the majority of the guarantor states’."
"Is there a difference? That's what we're talking about."
"That's what they did with a number of other proposals they put forward in Istanbul."
Background:
On April 21 and 22, after a long pause, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations held a round of talks in video conference format. Heads of both delegations confirmed this information. At the same time, Sergei Lavrov openly claimed that the talks had "reached a stalemate."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the Russians that Ukraine would withdraw from negotiations with the Russian Federation if the Russian aggressors opened fire and killed defenders of Mariupol or conducted a pseudo-referendum on the temporarily occupied lands of Kherson.
On April 20, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia handed over to Ukraine its response to Ukraine's proposals presented on March 29 during a round of face-to-face talks in Istanbul. He added that "the ball is in Kyiv's half."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded that he used to play football well, but the game requires two teams and a ball. He explained that Ukraine did not receive any draft document or written proposals from Russia, as Peskov insisted.
"Financial Times" journalists learned from their sources that Vladimir Putin had allegedly abandoned the idea of negotiating with Ukraine, especially after the cruiser "Moskva" sank, and shifted instead to a land-grab strategy.
