Russia says Ukraine has not responded to proposals and there have been no negotiations

Olena Roshchina, TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2022, 13:07

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that negotiations with Ukraine are not taking place since Kyiv has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process.

Source: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, RIA Novosti

Quote: "No, negotiations are not taking place. Ukraine has actually withdrawn from the negotiation process. [They are not taking place - ed.] in any form."

Details: Rudenko told reporters that there has been no response from Kyiv to Russia’s draft agreement.

On 20 April, the Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia had "handed over to Ukraine a draft document with clear wording" on a peace deal. This was not confirmed at the time by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is not known how the Kremlin responded to Ukraine's proposals made in Istanbul on 29 March.

In those proposals, Kyiv proposed that instead of NATO membership, Ukraine should receive reliable security guarantees backed by several countries; that the issue of Donbas should be resolved by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a personal meeting; and that the status of Crimea should be settled over a period of 15 years, against the backdrop of peace.

On 25 April, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia could not sign security guarantees for Ukraine while the territorial issues of Crimea and Donbas remained unresolved.

Now an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, has confirmed that negotiations are "on pause". According to him, they would not serve any purpose at this stage.

Podolyak believes that the Russians do not want to acknowledge the real state of affairs and are proceeding from an "all or nothing" position.

Reminder: The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said back in March that the United States saw "no signs of real seriousness" in Russia’s intentions to negotiate.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had no faith in the Russian negotiators during the talks and provided assurances that there would be no compromises on Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Even while holding negotiations, Russia continued to fight for Ukrainian territory, and the Russian military attempted to invade all of eastern and southern Ukraine so as to create a land route to occupied Crimea and Transnistria.

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