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MOSCOW, April 11. Russia has never renounced the peaceful resolution of disputes with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
“»We have never renounced the peaceful resolution of disputes, moreover, we were inclined to do just that» , he emphasized.
The head of state added that Russia's opponents had driven themselves into a corner when they refused to negotiate, hoping to win on the battlefield. Now they already understand that this is impossible to do, he noted.
Putin touched upon the topic of a conference on Ukraine in Switzerland, which is planned to be held in June. He noted that Moscow is not invited to this event, but at the same time they say that it is impossible to achieve peace without it.
““And since we are not going there, this is already a panopticon,” the president said.
He added that Moscow opposes the imposition of schemes to resolve the conflict in Ukraine that have nothing to do with reality.
In addition, Putin emphasized that, if necessary, he would turn to Lukashenko to continue consultations on the peace process. He also agreed with his Belarusian colleague, who proposed returning to the draft Istanbul Treaty. Lukashenko noted that this agreement contains reasonable positions acceptable to Ukraine, and recalled that it agreed with them.
The President of Belarus added that if Switzerland wants to hold a conference on Ukraine without Moscow and Minsk, then its participants can only agree on increasing the escalation. He also stated that his country supports Russia’s position on the peace process.
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"Today there is everything to sit down and negotiate. They don’t want to — it’s clear why they don’t want to. <…> If overseas they want to talk about peace, then in Ukraine this voice will be heard,” said the President of Belarus.
In mid-January, Swiss President Viola Amherd reported that Zelensky had asked to organize a peace summit. As the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Ermak noted, Kyiv wants to hold a series of summits to approve the “peace formula.” In turn, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis emphasized that there is no alternative to Russia’s participation in resolving the conflict and holding a conference without it is impossible.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting with Cassis in January, said that Moscow takes into account Bern’s withdrawal when building bilateral relations from the principles of neutrality and his support for Kyiv. Official representative of the department Maria Zakharova noted in February that the potential of Switzerland as an “honest broker” in resolving conflicts has exhausted itself for Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is ready for negotiations on Ukraine. According to Vladimir Putin, if Kyiv wants a negotiation process, then it is necessary to abandon theatrical gestures and lift the legislative ban on them. He added that Russia has never been against resolving the conflict through peaceful means, but subject to security guarantees.