The Kremlin on Wednesday May 18 accused Ukraine oftotal lack of willto negotiate with Russia to end the ongoing conflict on Ukrainian soil since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24.
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“The negotiations are not moving forward and we see a complete lack of will on the part of the Ukrainian negotiators to continue this process“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press, while the day before the Ukrainian presidency had said that the talks were suspended because of Russia. “The negotiation process is on hold“said Mykhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Tuesday. “Russia is not showing a key element: understanding of (…) what is currently happening in the world and its extremely negative role“, he said.
Last meeting April 22
Several meetings between negotiators from both sides have taken place but have yielded no concrete results. The last meeting between the heads of delegations, Vladimir Medinski on the Russian side and David Arakhamia for Ukraine, dates back to April 22, according to Russian agencies. The Kremlin has also assured that it has no information on the case of the Russian soldier tried from Wednesday for a war crime in Ukraine, while accusing kyiv of fabricating accusations of this type targeting Russia.
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“We have no information so far. And the possibilities of helping (the defendant) are very limited in the absence of diplomatic representationsaid Dmitry Peskov, saying that the numerous war crimes charges against the Russian army werefakes or staged“. Russian soldier Vadim Chichimarine, 21, will appear from 2:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT) before the Solomiansky district court in kyiv, where he will have to explain himself on the death of a 62-year-old man on February 28 in the northeastern Ukraine. Charged with war crimes and premeditated murder, the soldier, originally from Irkutsk in Siberia, faces life imprisonment.
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