Russia sets conditions for continuing direct negotiations with Ukraine

On April 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that once the side Ukraine If meaningful steps are taken to warrant direct negotiations, that possibility will be considered. Earlier, Kiev threatened to withdraw from peace talks, and vowed to “immediately” retake any territory under Russian control with the help of weapons from the West.

Asked about the possibility of holding a face-to-face meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters that conditions had not yet been set.

“As soon as we have meaningful agreements to be able to hold a substantive exchange of views, this issue will be considered. But that hasn’t happened yet,” RT quoted Rudenko as telling reporters.

Russia and Ukraine last met on March 29 in Istanbul, Turkey. Documents Ukraine sent to Russia deviate from what was previously agreed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on April 4, accusing Kiev of not negotiating in good faith.

April 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says talks will be stopped if “a fake referendum is announced in any of the new fake republics of Ukraine” or if “our people are annihilated in Mariupol” – referring to to members of the Azov Battalion trapped in the Azovstal steel mill.

Over the weekend, President Zelensky received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Kiev, and vowed to continue fighting Russia, as part of a campaign to get more weapons from the West.

“Whatever they take, we will get it back. It won’t be a matter of 8 years like from 2014, but immediately. This is a matter of weapons. If we have enough weapons, we will immediately begin to recapture the occupied territory,” Zelensky said.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine at the end of February, after accusing Kiev of failing to fulfill the terms of the Minsk agreement, first signed in 2014 and eventually Moscow’s recognition of the the self-proclaimed Donbass republics Donetsk and Lugansk. The Minsk agreement brokered by Germany and France was designed to give the breakaway regions special status in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country and will never join the military bloc. NATO led by the US. Kiev insists the Russian attack is completely unprovoked and rejects claims it is planning to retake the two republics in the Donbass by force.