Russia says it will halt the military operation in Ukraine instantly if Kiev meets Moscow’s list of conditions, as the deadly conflict is still underway for the twelfth day.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday that Ukraine was “told that all this can be stopped in a moment.”
On the issue of neutrality, Peskov said what Kiev needs to do is to “make amendments to the constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc. This is possible only by making changes to the constitution.”
Peskov also ensured that Russia was not seeking to make any further territorial claims on Ukraine.
“We really are finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine. We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot,” he added.
He said that Ukraine needs to “recognize that Crimea is Russian territory,” and Donetsk and Lugansk are “independent states. And that’s it. It will stop in a moment.”
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the breakaway Lugansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics.
Putin says the military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan and that Moscow would only halt its offensive if Kiev stopped fighting and the Kremlin’s demands were met.
Russia prepared the list of its demands as delegations from Moscow and Kiev are set to meet on Monday for a third round of talks in Belarus.
Top Russian, Ukrainian diplomats to meet in Turkey
In the meantime, top diplomats from Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet at a forum in southern Turkey on Thursday.
The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, was announced by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday.
“God willing, we will hold this meeting at a trilateral format in Antalya on Thursday” on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in Turkey, Cavusoglu said Monday in comments published in the official Anadolu news agency.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed the meeting. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russia’s TASS news agency that an agreement for the three-way meeting was reached during a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “on the initiative of the Turkish leader.”
Kuleba had said on Saturday he was open to talks with Lavrov, but only if they were “meaningful.”
Turkey, a NATO member, has called Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine as unacceptable even as it opposes sanctions against Moscow.
(PressTV)
