Moscow (Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that “China may organize a peace conference in which Russia and Ukraine will participate,” the Russian Information Agency reported yesterday.
Lavrov indicated that such a step would constitute a continuation of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, and added: “We agree with China’s position that it is necessary to address the root causes of the conflict in the first place and protect the legal interests of all parties, provided that subsequent agreements are based on the principle of ensuring equal security.” “It is indivisible,” stressing that this requires taking into account the facts on the ground, which reflect the will of those who live there.
Russia has repeatedly called for talks on the precondition that Kiev and the West recognize the gains Moscow has made on the ground in Ukraine, which Kiev rejects.
Lavrov criticized the United States for helping Ukraine.
It is noteworthy that Russian President Vladimir Putin has always stressed that his country is ready to negotiate with Ukraine, in order to reach a solution to the Ukrainian crisis, and stressed the need to take the new reality on the ground and Russia’s security demands into account.
In a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry following a meeting at the Diplomatic Academy on the issues of the Ukrainian crisis, Lavrov called on the majority countries in the world to refuse to participate in the Swiss conference on Ukraine, scheduled to be held on June 15 and 16, and not to submit to Western pressure on this issue.
Lavrov explained during the meeting that the confrontation has acquired global dimensions, as the West is involving the global majority countries in it, trying to limit their interaction with Russia.
During his speech, Lavrov stressed that the purpose of the Switzerland conference “is not to consider the possibilities of resolving the conflict over Ukraine, as we mentioned, but rather to formulate and present an unacceptable ultimatum to Russia.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman explained that Russia has not refused to negotiate since April 2022, when Kiev, at the request of Britain, obstructed the negotiation process, which he himself had requested.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin renewed its warning to Ukraine’s allies against the consequences of allowing Kiev to launch attacks on Russian territory using Western weapons, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov threatened “consequences” if such attacks occurred.
The Kremlin spokesman said yesterday, “This will ultimately be very harmful to the interests of those countries that have chosen the path of escalating tensions.”
The question of whether Kiev will be allowed to use Western weapons to launch attacks on military targets in Russia has loomed larger as fighting intensifies along certain sectors of the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Kiev is particularly striving to stop a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region, located in northeastern Ukraine.
The foreign ministers of NATO’s 32 countries met in Prague yesterday to discuss this issue, among other issues.
Western weapons have so far mainly targeted Russian positions in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian forces.
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