Russia claims its demands at the talks with Kyiv will be more severe

IRYNA BALACHUK – TUESDAY, 19 JULY 2022, 16:06

Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs and a member of the Russian delegation in the Russo-Ukrainian peace negotiations, has claimed that if peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are resumed, Moscow will impose more severe conditions in general, and concerning deadlines in particular.

Source: Russian "Interfax", referring to Slutsky’s press conference

Quote: "Our conditions will become completely different, more severe".

Details: Russia’s requirements concerning demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine will be enforced, as will recognition of the independence of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic ("DPR") and Luhansk People’s Republic ("LPR").

Background:

• On 3 July, Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the President of Ukraine, claimed that Ukraine’s conditions for resuming talks are withdrawal of Russia’s troops from the territory of Ukraine, returning Ukrainians who have been kidnapped, and establishing a reparations mechanism.
• Previously, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia, claimed that Ukraine must understand Russia’s conditions, agree to them and start negotiating.
• On 27 June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, called upon the world leaders who had gathered at the G7 Summit to do everything within their power to stop the Russian invasion into Ukraine until the end of this year.
• Dmitrii Pyeskov, press-secretary of the President of Russia, has claimed that Ukraine can end the war by the end of the day if it lays down the arms and capitulates.
• Mykhailo Podoliak, the advisor of the President of Ukraine, has replied to Pyeskov that it wasn’t Ukraine who had started this war so it doesn’t have to end it "by order".
• On 17 May Podoliak confirmed that the talks with Russia are on hold for a number of reasons.