On Thursday, Russia again listed conditions for it to end war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergay Levrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba met in Turkey yesterday to discuss ways to end the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.
Levrov said the meeting was not necessary, adding that a ceasefire was never going to be agreed during trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Lavrov said he had warned his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts that Russia cannot create a “parallel track” to talks, pointing to the fact that talks were already taking place alongside the Belarusian border.
Recall that during the last round of Belarus talks, the President Vladimir Putin’s government had presented Belarus with a draft legal document detailing “extremely specific considerations.”
Russia wants to “have a serious conversation on the Belarusian site,” Lavrov said, stressing the country’s belief that the issue “should be resolved in the context of a comprehensive settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
“No one was going to agree on a ceasefire [at this meeting], these proposals and the sequence of steps outlined in these proposals are well known to the Ukrainian side,” the Russian foreign minister continued.
“It is there that all practical issues are discussed, it is there that it was explained in the most detailed way what needs to be done in order to end this crisis. These include demilitarization and denazification and ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine,” Lavrov said.
