With the failure of the Ukraine plan and the emergency of US and Western aid, the Russian-Ukrainian "peace talks" are once again becoming the focus of discussion among all parties. According to Russia's TASS news agency and "Russia Today" (RT), on December 15, local time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that the Kremlin is willing to engage in dialogue on the premise that core interests are respected, and revealed that a number of Western leaders have been in contact with him.
On the same day, Lavrov held a joint press conference with Belarusian Foreign Minister Alenik. He said that at present, some Western powers are increasingly interested in a negotiated solution to the Ukrainian problem, but refused to name specific countries.
I don't want to, and I don't have the right to name names," Lavrov noted, "but some well-known senior leaders in Western countries, including a very well-known Western leader, have repeatedly signaled to the Russian side 'why we won't meet and talk about how to deal with security issues in Ukraine and Europe,' through at least three different communication channels."
Lavrov added that Russia is "ready to seriously discuss these issues," but said Ukraine has always been a reluctant party to negotiate. "We have never refused to negotiate, and this issue should not be brought to us," he said. ”
At the same time, he stressed that any negotiations must take into account "Russia's legitimate interests" and must mean "an end to attempts to build one's own security at the expense of others." RT said he was referring here to Ukraine's efforts to join NATO.
Lavrov (right) and the Belarusian Foreign Minister held a press conference on the 15th, the picture is from Russia's *** Twitter.
On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with NBC that if the United States wants to resume dialogue with Russia, it must re-examine its current position on Ukraine and relations with Russia. He added that Russia is ready to cooperate with any American **, but very much hopes that the American side will take a "more constructive" approach.
Peskov also criticized the current role of the United States in the conflict in Ukraine, saying that Biden was simply throwing taxpayers' money into the "wind" while sending conflicting signals to Ukraine to unnecessarily prolong hostilities that would only end up leading to more Ukrainians dying.
You have to understand your responsibility for this," Peskov said, "and you tell them (the Ukrainians) ......."Die, but you know very well that they can't win." He went on to say that the United States is "strongly involved in this conflict" by providing more money and armaments, and that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is actually a "hybrid war" launched by the United States against Russia, endangering global security.
The day before (14th), Russia** Putin accused the United States and its allies of orchestrating the Russia-Ukraine conflict and fundamentally undermining Russia's efforts to establish normal relations with Ukraine for many years. He also questioned that given the position of the United States and the West, and NATO's continued approach to Russia's borders, Moscow has found it difficult to trust Western countries.
Putin held his annual press conference in Moscow on December 14 and connected live with the Russian people. Picture from Visual China.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February last year, Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of negotiations, and began to contact through the ** meeting in March last year. But since then, the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks have stalled due to mutual accusations from both sides: the Russian side accuses Ukraine of refusing peace talks;Ukraine rejects the accusations of the Russian side and accuses the Russian side of ending the negotiations in April after committing "war crimes".
Zelensky approved the decision of the *** committee on October 4 last year that it was impossible to negotiate with Russia's ** Putin, and later changed his tune in November to say that "real peace talks" could be held, but only if Russia "returned the occupied land", "compensated for war losses", and "pursued war crimes". In response, the Russian side said that the Ukrainian side set preconditions and lacked "goodwill" for peace talks.
According to Ukrainian media reports at the end of November, D**id Arakhamia, chairman of the parliamentary group of Ukraine's ruling party "Servant of the People", said that Russia promised in March last year that if Ukraine remained neutral and did not join NATO, Russia would cease fire. Rahamia said that because of distrust of Russia and the opposition of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Ukraine finally chose to continue fighting.
Earlier this month, while attending an OSCE meeting, Lavrov confirmed that Russia and Ukraine almost reached a peace agreement after the Istanbul talks in March 2022, but the agreement was ultimately "aborted" due to Western intervention.
RT said that so far, Western leaders have not said a word about the new Russia-Ukraine peace talks in their public statements. However, there are more and more reports from the West that the United States and Europe** have put the relevant agenda behind the scenes. Among them, the US media NBC recently quoted the United States as saying that due to the "fear that Ukraine" will not be able to succeed on the battlefield, the United States and the West have rekindled their interest in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer.com, and it is not allowed to be unauthorized and shall not be allowed.