Medinsky spoke about the readiness of the agreement for discussions by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine and assistant to the president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Medinsky, said that “the Ukrainian side has become more realistic in its approach to issues related to Ukraine's neutral and nuclear-free status,” Russian Interfax reported. However, he claims that the draft agreement is allegedly not ready for discussion by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin .
“Arahamiya (head of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks) said that Russia accepts the Ukrainian position with the exception of Crimea. I can only reiterate that the previously agreed issues, namely the neutral non-aligned non-nuclear status of Ukraine, the ban on foreign military bases, refusal to deploy foreign troops and any offensive missile weapons, development and production of weapons of mass destruction, conducting exercises involving foreign troops only with the permission of the guarantor states, including Russia, as well as the creation of a system of international security guarantees for neutral Ukraine – all these agreements were reached in Istanbul. This is exactly what Russia has been persistently and consistently pursuing since 2014, “Medinsky said.
According to him, “the Ukrainian side has begun to approach these issues realistically.” At the same time, Medinsky stated that “they do not feel sorry” if David Arahamiya “calls it all the Ukrainian position.” At the same time, the representative of the aggressor country stated that Russia's position on the occupied Crimea and Donbass, where fierce fighting is currently taking place, remains unchanged.
“Unfortunately, I do not share Arahamia's optimism about the readiness of the draft treaty for the summit. We need to do even more work. And I see that the diplomatic and military services of Ukraine, it seems to me, lag far behind in the implementation of even those agreements that have already been reached at the political level, “Medinsky said.
Asked whether talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place on April 1, Medinsky said: “This is true. The work went on all day yesterday, and today it has continued both at the level of heads of delegations and experts. “
According to Medinsky, “work will continue on Monday.”
The day before, the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks David Arahamiya said that the Russian side confirmed during a video conference on Friday that the draft agreements discussed at this week's meeting in Istanbul were ready for discussion by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
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It will be recalled that the head of the legal group at the talks between Ukraine and Russia, Alexander Chaly, said that security guarantees should be analogous to Article 5 of NATO. This means that an attack on our state will be considered an attack on all signatories. Chaly noted that if they agree, our side agrees to permanent neutrality, non-alignment and non-nuclear. But nothing should contradict Ukraine's right to join the EU.
The head of the Ukrainian delegations David Arahamiya told who Ukraine wants to see as signatories of security guarantees. He also said that the document will not apply to the temporarily occupied territories of Donbass and Crimea, as issues have not yet been resolved.
Earlier , the United States declared its readiness to act as one of the guarantors of Ukraine's security. Then the same was stated in Germany and Italy . At the same time, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominique Raab said that London would consider Ukraine's request , but he ruled out taking guarantees that NATO countries have.
See the special topic: Peskov called Ukraine a “difficult and hostile country to Russia” Fake about “fraternal peoples” is cracking at the seams. Italian Foreign Ministry: “Italy is ready to act as a guarantor of Ukraine's neutral status” At the same time, the Italian Foreign Minister said that the country's priority is to continue the negotiation process. Ukraine's position on peace treaty: Kuleba said there was no response from Russia yet, Lavrov says – they are preparing Podoliak announced the start of a new round of talks between Ukraine and Russia. The talks are being held online. Talks with the Russian delegation will resume online on April 1 – Arahamiya Arahamiya also expressed hope that a meeting of the country's presidents could take place after that.
