Russia does not accept the West as a mediator in negotiations with Ukraine.
Russia is interested in a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine but will not accept any Western mediation in talks with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"We are ready to give diplomacy a chance. That is why we agreed to the talks, which are now resuming in Istanbul," Lavrov said on March 28. The talks between Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to take place on March 29.
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| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Photo: Reuters |
With good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, the Turkish government has made great efforts to bring the two sides to the negotiating table, Foreign Minister Lavrov commented. However, according to the Russian diplomat, there is no need for the US or the EU - countries that support Ukraine in the conflict - to participate in the peace agreement negotiations.
"There are many examples of times when diplomatic achievements were completely destroyed by the West. They are no longer trustworthy," Mr. Lavrov assessed.
“I don’t want to see any shuttle diplomacy from the West, because of what they did in February 2014 in Ukraine and February 2015 in the Minsk agreements.”
The Russian Foreign Minister said that the Minsk II agreement proposed a ceasefire and "cleared the way" for administrative and political reforms in Ukraine as well as autonomy and local elections in the self-proclaimed people's republics in Donbass. However, the West has failed to convince the Ukrainian government to comply with its commitments."The European Union has shown its inability as an organization to meet the agreements that have been reached," Lavrov assessed.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine a month ago because it believed that Ukraine did not comply with the conditions of the Minsk agreement. Russia also recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in Donbass. Moscow now demands that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country and never join NATO, among other demands./.
