Doesn’t Moscow issue “ultimatums”?
Russia and Ukraine resume talks on Monday
03/13/2022 10:56 p.m
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are scheduled to continue on Monday via video link. It is about “a summary of the preliminary results” of the previous talks, according to the Ukrainian side. A member of the Russian negotiating delegation said talks were progressing.
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv to resolve their conflict are to continue on Monday via video link, according to both sides. According to the Russian news agency TASS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that talks between the two neighboring countries were ongoing on Sunday. Rather, they would continue virtually on Monday, he said.
Ukraine confirmed the new round of talks via video link on Monday. It is about “a summary of the preliminary results” of the previous talks, said Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Voloymyr Zelenskyy, on Twitter.
Earlier, a member of the Russian negotiating delegation said talks were progressing. “If we compare the positions of the two delegations at the beginning of the negotiations and now, we see significant progress,” said Leonid Slutsky, who recently spoke in person with the Ukrainian negotiating delegation in Belarus.
“Listen carefully to our positions”
“My personal expectation is that progress will lead to a common position between the two delegations and documents to be signed very soon,” Slutski added, according to Russian news agencies. Since the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, three rounds of talks have been held in Belarus. The priority was to create humanitarian corridors for civilians.
Zelenskyi’s adviser Podoliak said on Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had stopped giving Kyiv “ultimatums” and had started “listening carefully to our positions”. Zelensky himself said on Saturday that Moscow had taken a “fundamentally different” stance in the negotiations. Russian head of state Vladimir Putin himself spoke of “positive progress” on Friday.