Excerpt:
“Question: On what terms would Russia agree to come to the negotiation table with Ukraine at this point?
Sergey Lavrov: I have already given you part of the answer to this question. It was Kiev which withdrew from the negotiating process in April 2022. It acted this way at the request of its Western curators. In September of the same year, Vladimir Zelensky outlawed all talks with Russia. This piece of legislation remains in force. It must be cancelled. Otherwise, talks cannot resume. In his recent interview with CBS, Vladimir Zelensky once again spoke out against talks with Russia. Let me quote his words: ‘We can’t trust Russia. It’s that we can’t trust negotiations with Russia.’ We have made no secret regarding our position on the settlement. Russia proceeds from the premise that Kiev’s non-accession to NATO, as well as reaffirming its neutral and non-aligned status as per the 1990 Declaration on Ukraine’s State Sovereignty – these factors form one of the two pillars for a final settlement to the Ukraine crisis that would meet Russia’s security interests. The second pillar consists of overcoming the legacy of the neo-Nazi regime which took power in Kiev after the February 2014 putsch, including the initiative by its perpetrators to eradicate and cancel, in both physical and legislative terms, everything Russian, be it the Russian language, media, culture, traditions, or the canonical Orthodox faith. The international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia is another imperative. All the commitments Kiev assumes must be legally binding, contain enforcement mechanisms and be permanent. Demilitarising and de-Nazifying Ukraine is also on the agenda, along with lifting sanctions, withdrawing lawsuits and cancelling arrest warrants, as well as returning Russian assets subjected to the so-called freeze in the West. We will also insist on obtaining solid security guarantees for the Russian Federation in order to shield it from any threats emanating from hostile activities by NATO, the European Union and some of their member states along our western border.”
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