Russia abandons ceasefire and returns to 2022 requirements

23 May 11:33

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has openly stated that Moscow is not interested in a ceasefire or peace talks with Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing The Kyiv Independent.

“We have already gone through this. We don’t want it anymore,”

– he said, commenting on the US initiative for a full 30-day ceasefire.

According to Lavrov, before talking about ending hostilities, the “root causes” of the war must be addressed. This formulation actually means a return to all the demands with which Russia started the war: demilitarization, denazification, non-aligned status, recognition of the occupied territories, the Russian language, etc.

Lavrov made this statement after Trump’s conversation with Putin, during which the Russian leader rejected the ceasefire proposal. Instead, he proposed a “memorandum on a potential peace treaty.” Not even the memorandum itself, but only to talk about it.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump briefed European leaders on the details of his conversation with Putin, noting that the Russian president is not ready for peace because he believes he will win the war. Axios sources note that European leaders were surprised by Trump’s “relative satisfaction” with what he heard from Putin.

At the same time, Lavrov, in a speech to students at a Russian university, accused European leaders – French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – of putting pressure on Trump to increase sanctions against Russia.

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Negotiations Failure and Moscow’s Ultimatums

Despite its public rejection of the ceasefire, Russia held symbolic “peace talks” with Ukraine on May 16, initiated after the Kremlin’s latest refusal to cease fire. The talks took place in Istanbul, but were mostly formal – the Russian delegation was headed by Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, and Putin himself ignored Zelensky’s invitation to meet in person. Lavrov also did not arrive, which further demonstrated Russia’s unwillingness to seek a compromise.

Moscow has once again put forward maximalist and even absurd conditions for the “peace” process: Ukraine has to withdraw its troops from four regions that Russia has written into its constitution – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. The negotiations ended without result.

Читайте нас у Telegram: головні новини коротко

Остафійчук Ярослав
Editor

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