The statement by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexei Reznikov that it is impossible for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to visit Moscow to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is ridiculous. This was stated on Saturday, April 24, by the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council committee on international affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov.
“In general, the statement itself is ridiculous. What then is the difference between the meeting that Zelensky wanted to hold in Donbass with the “aggressor country”? That is, in Donbass this is a country for negotiations, and in Moscow it will be an “aggressor country,” he said in an interview with RT.
Dzhabarov clarified that in this case, the point is that Zelensky “will have nothing to say at this meeting with Putin.” According to the parliamentarian, the reason for this is that the Ukrainian leader “did not fulfill any of his election promises.”
However, Dzhabarov stressed that this meeting could only be about bilateral relations without mentioning the topic of Donbass. According to him, the situation in the region is “a conflict that is developing within Ukraine.”
“I think that these excuses of the Deputy Prime Minister, invented, look absolutely ridiculous and unconvincing,” he concluded.
Earlier that day, Reznikov said that Zelensky would not be able to accept Putin’s invitation to come to Moscow for talks, and called the proposal itself strange. He stressed that such a meeting should take place in the format of the “Normandy Four” together with the leaders of Germany and France, writes Gazeta.ru.
On April 20, Zelensky offered to meet with Putin “anywhere” in Donbass. The President of Ukraine noted that the different views of Kiev and Moscow on the past and the future can be viewed not as a problem, but as an opportunity.
The Russian leader responded on April 22 to Zelensky’s proposal. He specified that if Kiev wants to restore relations, Moscow will only welcome this. Putin also added that in order to develop Russian-Ukrainian relations, the Russian Federation will receive Zelensky in Moscow at any time convenient for him.
On April 22, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko also noted that the Ukrainian leader needs to negotiate the situation in Donbass with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and only then discuss this issue with third countries.
The head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, in turn, has already announced his readiness to meet with Zelensky at any point on the contact line in Donbass.
On April 21, Dmitry Kozak, the deputy head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, said that Russia had offered Germany and France to discuss until April 27 the issues of an armistice in eastern Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements. He stressed that the negotiations were proposed to be held “directly in the conflict zone with the participation of representatives of Ukraine and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
The adviser to the head of Zelensky’s office, Mikhail Podolyak, clarified on the same day that Ukraine regards Kozak’s proposal “as something that could blur the very idea of negotiations.” He stated that in this case it is necessary to implement this idea within the framework of the trilateral contact group.
Since 2014, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the residents of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup in the country. In the current situation, the Ukrainian authorities blame Moscow. Russia has repeatedly noted that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict, and called on Kiev to negotiate with the DPR and LPR, as well as to implement the Minsk agreements and achieve de-escalation.