Turkey hopes that perhaps in the coming days Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelenski will be able to meet at the suggestion of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told RIA Novosti.
«Our president has the position that we have put forward at the ministerial level from the very beginning: at the beginning of the crisis, we conducted very serious and comprehensive analyzes so that war would not break out and a ceasefire would be ensured as soon as possible. possible after the start of the war. Foreign ministers “Russia and Ukraine met at the diplomatic forum in Antalya. Later, delegation meetings were held in Istanbul. Moreover, the President has repeatedly conducted telephone calls with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskiy, ”Akar quoted in Akar’s press service.
According to him, in these negotiations Erdogan is trying to bring about a ceasefire as soon as possible and sit down at the negotiating table.
«We hope that despite some difficulties in the coming days, perhaps thanks to our president’s proposals, both leaders will be able to get closer. As Turkey, we continue to contribute to everything that needs to be done, including mediation, so that the humanitarian situation that is it worsened, it did not deteriorate, and the ceasefire was achieved as soon as possible, ”Akar underlined.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin called this goal «to protect people who have been the target of persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» To this end, in his opinion, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine» in order to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against the civilian population» in the Donbas. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces only hit the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, and since March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced Ukraine’s combat potential. The main goal of the Russian military department was the liberation of Donbas.
Russian-Ukrainian consultations began at the end of February: the delegations held two face-to-face meetings in Belarus, after which it was decided to continue them on a daily basis via videoconference. At the end of March, delegations held another round of talks in Istanbul. As a result, the head of the Russian delegation during the talks, adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Ukraine has submitted written proposals for a future treaty, which Moscow considers to be a step forward, and that, in general, Kyiv has shown its willingness to negotiate for the first time in many years.
In response, the Russian side took two steps towards Ukraine. First, it was decided to significantly limit hostilities in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions. Secondly, Moscow suggested that President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky be held simultaneously with the initialing of the treaty by foreign ministers.
However, the later Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, said that Ukraine rejects its own proposals and creates numerous provocations to slow down the negotiation process. In particular, according to the minister, Ukraine presented a draft agreement with Russia departing from the provisions on Crimea agreed at the Istanbul meeting, and also changed the provision on military exercises without mentioning the need to obtain Russia’s consent, reports RIA News.
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