MOSCOW: Russia will be insisting on the provision of security guarantees in order to ink a peace treaty and they include the neutral status...
MOSCOW: Russia will be insisting on the provision of security guarantees in order to ink a peace treaty and they include the neutral status of Ukraine and its refusal to join NATO, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.
"If we speak about a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, then it will definitely have an external contour," Grushko said in an interview with Russia’s daily Izvestia. "We will be insisting that concrete security guarantees should be the part of this agreement."
"It is because that only through their formation it will be possible to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine and generally strengthen security in the region," he continued. "Ukraine’s neutral status and NATO member states’ refusal to admit this country as a member of the alliance must be the part of such guarantees."
According to Grushko, "such provisions were documented" in the draft agreements on security guarantees initiated by Russia in 2021.
"Russia put forward two initiatives in 2021," he said. "One of them was addressed to the United States and the other one to NATO member states. Both of them were not supported. We realized that our so-called partners were not ready to be engaged in a substantial dialogue."
"It then become clear that the very nature of the alliance’s military build-up as well as military preparations on behalf of the United States were aimed to achieve superiority over Russia," Grushko said. "Moreover, Ukraine was selected as the main battlefield, the theater of military operations against Russia."
The Russian diplomat noted that as of today "the conflict has reached a phase where the West is strategically defeated."
"Europe should understand that if strong international legal guarantees regarding Russia's security are in place, excluding Ukraine's membership in NATO and the possibility of deploying foreign military contingents on its territory or using it to exert military pressure on Russia, the security of Ukraine and the entire region in a broader sense will be ensured, as one of the root causes of the conflict would be eliminated," he added.
On March 14, Trump said that the administration of the 46th US President Joe Biden was to blame for the fact that US-Russian relations deteriorated so badly. He wrote on the Truth Social network that Biden got the US "into a real 'mess' with Russia" and promised to get the US out of this situation. He once again stated that the Ukraine conflict would never have happened if he was president.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier noted that Moscow and Washington needed to "clean up the legacy of the Biden administration," which ruined the foundation of long-lasting cooperation between the two countries.
Ceasefire discussions
On March 11, negotiations took place in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah between delegations from the United States and Ukraine. Following these discussions, Ukraine decided to accept the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. In turn, Washington agreed to immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume military assistance to Kiev. The parties also agreed to sign the agreement on Ukrainian minerals as soon as possible.
On March 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to Trump for his involvement in the peace negotiations and endorsed the idea of a ceasefire. However, the Russian president mentioned several critical issues regarding the status of Ukrainian military personnel who had invaded the Kursk Region, the mechanisms for monitoring the ceasefire, and Ukraine’s potential actions during this period.
He stated that Moscow was open to proposals for ending hostilities in Ukraine, provided they paved the way for long-term peace and addressed the root causes of the crisis.
-News Feed
COMMENTS