Russia is ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, but this requires the fulfillment of several conditions, among which is the restoration of the infrastructure destroyed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with money from the West. This was stated in an interview with RTVI by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.
Russia is open “to sensible proposals for a peaceful settlement”, but Ukraine “continues to bet on a military solution to the conflict”, Galuzin said. According to him, a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine and in Europe is possible if the following conditions are met:
the cessation of hostilities by Ukrainian armed groups and the supply of arms by Western countries; the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from the territory of the state; ensuring Ukraine’s neutral and non-bloc status; rejection of Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU; confirmation of Ukraine’s non-nuclear status; recognition by Kiev and the international community of “new territorial realities.
Furthermore, as Mikhail Galuzin pointed out, the imperative conditions for ending the conflict are also “the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, the protection of the rights of Russian-speaking citizens, the Russian language and national minorities, the free cross-border movement with Russia, the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions by Ukraine and the West and the withdrawal of claims, the cessation of proceedings against Russia, its natural and legal persons”.
“It is important to restore Ukraine’s contractual and legal basis with Russia and the CIS, as well as, at the expense of the West, the civilian infrastructure destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces after 2014,” Galuzin added.
In November 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy offered the so-called “peace formula” – ten points to resolve the conflict, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine, the restoration of the territorial integrity of the country, the cessation of hostilities and the holding of a tribunal on Russia. Support for such a plan, in particular, was announced by Türkiye and Israel.
Russian Foreign Ministry chief Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would not conduct a dialogue with Kiev over the terms contained in the Zelenskyy plan. On February 22, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on China’s willingness to play a role in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, stressed that “Russia, unlike Ukraine, does not never abandoned dialogue and the search for diplomatic ways to resolve the conflict”. “Diplomacy and settlement are always a priority for us. In this case, everything has been tried and exhausted. For a quick peace, only the political will of the West and its neighborhoods in Kiev is needed. We don’t see that” declared Zakharov.
On February 26, in an interview with the German edition of Focus, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that over the next hundred years, reconciliation between Russia and Ukraine, as well as cooperation between the two States, are impossible.
