Interview with UN Secretary General António Guterres RIA NovostiUN Sep 19, Alan Bulkaty. direct negotiations between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky are far away, UN Secretary General António Guterres said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
«I think it would be important to create conditions for achieving peace in accordance with the UN Charter, with international law, but if you think realistically, I think we are still far from this possibility and it will probably be difficult to conduct direct negotiations between the two presidents,” Guterres suggested.
He added that he was ready to provide his «good offices» to facilitate such negotiations, but their conduct depends on the wishes of the heads of the two states. According to the Secretary General, the chances of concluding a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow are still minimal. «Because I see that both the parties remain committed (to their goals — ed.). We heard that President Putin said that the operation would continue until its goals were achieved. And we heard President Zelensky that he intends to liberate all parts of his country that are under the control of Russia. So it's obvious — we are far from the moment when both presidents can meet,» Guterres concluded. Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its task «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions guaranteeing the security of Russia itself. Consultations between Moscow and Kyiv began in the same month: the delegations held two face-to-face meetings in Belarus, after which they decided to continue them on a daily basis via video conference calls. At the end of March, the representatives of the countries held another round of talks in Istanbul. As a result, the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said that Ukraine had submitted its written proposals for a future agreement. Moscow considered this a step forward and noted that Kyiv, for the first time in many years, demonstrated a desire to negotiate. The Russian side, in response, took two steps towards Ukraine. First, it significantly reduced hostilities in the Kiev and Chernigov directions. Secondly, Moscow suggested that a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky be held simultaneously with the initialing of the treaty by the foreign ministers. However, later Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine was refusing its own proposals and creating numerous provocations in order to slow down the negotiation process . In particular, Kyiv presented its draft treaty, in which there is a departure from the provisions fixed at the meeting in Istanbul. We are talking about changing the points regarding Crimea, as well as conducting military exercises, where the Ukrainian delegation did not mention the need to obtain Moscow's consent.
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