"Spared no effort..." Russia rejects claims of Moscow "not ready to negotiate with Ukraine"

New Delhi: Russia rejected claims that it is not ready to negotiate with Ukraine on Tuesday and blamed Kyiv for intentionally staging provocations, in Bucha, Izyum, and around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as pretexts to ruin the negotiation process.

Regretting such kinds of "deliberate fakes" widely originated from "irresponsible statements by high-ranking officials from the US and other Western countries", the Russian Embassy here said during the last eight years Russia "spared no effort" to support direct talks between Kyiv and Donbas to implement the Minsk Agreements. "We decisively reject the throw-in information spread in media alleging that Russia is not ready to negotiate with Ukraine," said Russian Embassy in a statement.

Russia accused Ukraine of "sabotaging" the Minsk Agreements and continued bombing Donbas instead of having a dialogue. "Moreover, the Kyiv authorities openly admitted that they did not intend to carry out the agreements from the outset," the statement added.

Even at the initial stages of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine launched in February this year, Russia responded positively to Kyiv's request for peace talks, the Embassy stated.

It highlighted that Russia participated in the negotiation process for the treaty on Ukraine's neutrality and security assurances. "Alas, the Ukrainian side decided to break off negotiations and thereby left unanswered our proposals on a draft treaty of April 15, 2022."

Noting that Russia is still open to dialogue taking into account present-day realities, the Embassy said that "intentionally staged provocations (in Bucha, Izyum, around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, etc.) were used as pretexts to ruin the negotiation process."
However, the Embassy said that the same cannot be said of Ukraine. "Perhaps not everyone knows that the Ukrainian authorities formalized the ban on talks by approving a presidential executive order to this effect on September 30, 2022."

Over the US military aid to Ukraine, the Embassy pointed out the "collective West" continues to pump more weapons into Ukraine, spending billions of dollars, "which clearly demonstrates that they are not committed to diplomacy."

"Therefore, it is not Russia, but the United States and the Kyiv regime that must prove their ability and readiness to negotiate in good faith," the statement concluded. (ANI)