Russia is not ready to hold talks with Ukraine – German Ambassador to Russia

German Ambassador to Russia Alexander Graf Lambsdorff has said that Russia is not ready for peace talks with Ukraine.

Source: Lambsdorff in an interview with the Bonner General-Anzeiger newspaper, as reported by dpa and European Pravda

Quote: "At the moment, the Russian side is not showing any willingness to negotiate but is insisting on exaggerated preconditions."

Details: Lambsdorff added that when Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that he was only willing to negotiate with Ukraine if it fully withdrew from all the territories that he believed Russia had already annexed, including those parts that Russia does not control militarily, "then it is clear that there is no seriousness behind it". It is worth noting that Lambsdorff has been ambassador to Moscow for about a year.

He also said that the German embassy's work in Moscow aims to be present and take action if Moscow's attitude changes.

Quote: "Because one day Russia must also realise that it is achieving far less with this war than it set out to do at the beginning, that it is causing itself serious damage internationally and that it is in a war economy that is completely overheated and will not be sustainable."

More details: He added that the current advance of Ukrainian Ground Forces into Russia’s Kursk Oblast had made Russia nervous. It was an unpleasant surprise to the Russian border troops, secret services, military, civil defence forces and the population that Ukrainian troops were able to succeed in such actions.

Background: 

• Commenting on the events in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said that the war against Ukraine unleashed by Russia "returned to its home to some extent".
• German Major General Christian Freuding, who heads the Situation Centre for Ukraine at the German Ministry of Defence, mentioned the decision of Ukrainian forces to launch an offensive on the Russian border.

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