Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that over the past six months, several European leaders had tried to negotiate a war in Ukraine with Russia without Kyiv’s participation in those talks, and vowed that Russia would not negotiate with those who sought it. defeats in hostilities in Ukraine, EFE and Agerpres report.

“Several very prominent Western leaders, one of them in particular, sent signals several times through very different channels to meet to discuss what to do with Ukraine and European security,” Lavrov said during a press conference with his Belarusian counterpart. Sergey Aleynyk.

The Russian minister, who added that he has no right and does not want to “name names”, believes that hypocrisy and cunning are hidden behind these actions of some Western leaders who “lie without blushing”. “When they state out of inertia and continue to state that they will not agree on anything about Ukraine without Ukraine, this is nothing but hypocrisy,” the head of Russian diplomacy asserts.

He also noted that the relevant contacts, with the help of which Western leaders would try to get closer to Russia in order to reach an agreement with it through the head of Ukraine, were not carried out from leader to leader, that is, they did not contact the President of Russia Vladimir Putin directly, although they had “direct access” to him.

“But these are tricks that we have noticed in recent months,” Lavrov concluded. He also noted that “if anyone is interested in stopping trying to guarantee their own security at the expense of the security of others, stop trying to hedge the legitimate interests of Russia and the legitimate interests of Russians living in many countries of our continent.” , then welcome, we are always ready to seriously discuss these topics.” However, Russia does not want to negotiate with those who condition future contacts on its defeat in Ukraine, the Russian minister added.

Moscow has recently stated several times that it is open to negotiations with Ukraine, but has accused Kyiv of refusing any dialogue under the influence of its Western allies, especially the United States, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has issued a decree banning any negotiations with Putin. According to Moscow, the West would encourage Zelensky to abandon the agreements agreed between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022 in Istanbul.

At the peace talks that took place at the time, Russia offered Ukraine to stop the invasion in exchange for Kyiv’s rejection of any ambitions to join NATO, said David Arahamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation that participated in those talks, and now the group’s leader. last month, a deputy from the Servant of the People party, the political formation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

The Russians “were ready to stop the war if we accept neutrality and pledge not to join NATO. This was a significant moment,” Arahamia said in an interview with Ukrainian media, which was intercepted by Newsweek.

But this, he explained, would require a revision of the Constitution of Ukraine, and on the other hand, President Zelenskyi and other Ukrainian officials did not believe that Russia would keep its word, namely that it would not attack again.

Later, says David Arahamiya, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv and urged Ukraine “not to sign anything” with Russia and “just fight.” Since then, there have been no official negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

Putin confirmed on Thursday in his first major annual press conference since he ordered the start of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 that Russia will go all the way in this war until it achieves its goals, among which he mentioned demilitarization and military neutrality. of Ukraine.

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