On 19 April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that Russia would not halt the military operation in the event of new negotiations with Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a wide-ranging interview to three state radio stations Sputnik, Govorit Moskva, and Komsomolskaya Pravda in which he said that Russia would no longer halt the course of the special military operation in the event of negotiations with Ukraine. He said:
“And yet, we are ready to negotiate. But unlike the Istanbul story, we will not pause the hostilities for the period of negotiations. The process must go on. In addition, the realities on the ground have changed significantly. These realities must be taken into account.”
Earlier this month, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, where they discussed a possible option of negotiations with Ukraine. Putin agreed with the proposal to return to the draft agreement with Ukraine agreed in Istanbul. The Kremlin said that in this way Putin confirmed his readiness to hold talks on Ukraine in the format of dialogue.
Lavrov also mentioned that Russia had some experience of negotiations before, saying that Ukraine proposed to start negotiations two or three weeks after the start of the special military operation, which Russia immediately agreed to. There were several rounds of negotiations in Belarus and online, but they failed. He said that Ukrainian government is not ready “to consider any hypothetical compromises”:
“Not only are they failing to realise this, but they are not even ready to consider any hypothetical compromises. That much is clear. Vladimir Zelensky’s formula, ultimatums, no alternatives.”
