The Ukrainian side refused to negotiate, which it initiated itself, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
Earlier, in order to ensure negotiations, the advance of the RF Armed Forces through the territory of Ukraine was stopped.
“Yesterday afternoon, in connection with the expected negotiations with the Ukrainian leadership, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the President of Russia, ordered the suspension of the advance of the main forces of the Russian troops,” a Kremlin spokesman told reporters.
However, since the Ukrainian side refused to negotiate, the advance of the main Russian forces resumed this afternoon in accordance with the operation plan, Dmitry Peskov explained.
At the same time, an adviser to the head of Zelensky's office said that Kyiv's refusal to negotiate was due to disagreement with the conditions put forward by the Russian side.
Earlier, the issue of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was discussed at a press briefing at the US State Department.
At the same time, the official representative of the American Foreign Ministry, Ned Price, evaded answering the question of whether Washington advised the Ukrainian authorities to refuse dialogue with Moscow.
At the same time, the representative of the State Department said that earlier US President Joe Biden spoke with Vladimir Zelensky, and the head of the State Department, Anthony Blinken, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba, adding that there is full coordination of actions between Washington and Kiev.
“We will continue to advise and share information with our Ukrainian partners.
They, in turn, report the news to us.
We make sure that there is complete coordination between us and we work in complete synchronization with each other, ”said the representative of the US State Department.
At the same time, Ned Price accused the Russian side of allegedly trying to create the appearance of diplomacy.
“This is not real diplomacy.
These are not conditions conducive to true diplomacy.
We and our allies have been calling for a diplomatic solution since day one,” the official said.
Fraud with negotiations
On the night of February 25, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video message, announced his readiness for negotiations with the Russian side, including on the issue of the country's neutral status.
The readiness for negotiations was later also confirmed by adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak.
The Kremlin noted that this statement is to be analyzed.
Soon, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was ready to send its representatives to Minsk for negotiations with the Ukrainian side.
© Presidency of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a press conference after a meeting with diplomatic representatives of the LPR and the DPR, said that Zelensky was deliberately lying about his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine.
“Now he is just telling you a lie, lying, in simple terms, when he says that he is ready to discuss a neutral status,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
Sergei Lavrov stressed that Zelensky had previously resorted to lies, refusing to comply with the Minsk agreements.
The Russian Foreign Minister added that there was no shortage of opportunities for Zelensky, for example, since December last year, when Moscow put forward proposals for security guarantees aimed precisely at finding guarantees beyond the expansion of military-political blocs, primarily NATO.
Soon, the Kremlin reported that, despite established contact with the Ukrainian side and the beginning of discussions of possible negotiations, representatives of Kyiv stopped communicating.
“After a short pause, the Ukrainians said that they were reconsidering the idea with Minsk and now they want to go to Warsaw, and after that they left the connection altogether and took a break.
And this pause has already been going on for quite a long time,” said Dmitry Peskov.
At the same time, according to the press secretary of the President of Russia, this pause is accompanied by the deployment of multiple launch rocket systems by the Armed Forces of Ukraine directly in residential areas, including in Kyiv.
In turn, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting within the framework of the meeting of the Security Council of Russia, described the current Ukrainian authorities as “a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that settled in Kyiv and took the entire Ukrainian people hostage.”
Later, on the evening of February 25, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Kyiv had abandoned negotiations and proposed to postpone the issue until February 26.
“The Ukrainian side refused to negotiate.
Representatives of the Kiev regime proposed to postpone this issue until tomorrow,” the diplomat told the TASS news agency.
However, the next day, February 26, it became known that Kyiv completely refused to negotiate.
Destabilization of the situation
Against the backdrop of a controversial situation with potential negotiations, there were reports that the Ukrainian authorities organized the distribution of weapons to the civilian population.
Videos were published on social networks of how the residents of Kyiv were handed out machine guns and cartridges from trucks.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this was the end.
© Komsomolskaya Pravda/Global Look Press
“The distribution of weapons is just the end.
What's next, will the prisoners be released from prison?
So that it just ends with a massacre, ”said Zakharova.
At the same time, evidence continues to be received of the placement of heavy weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in residential areas and courtyards of houses.
According to political analyst Malek Dudakov, by manipulating the start and subsequent refusal of negotiations with Moscow, Zelensky expects to delay the ongoing operation of the Russian Armed Forces in order to wait for more significant assistance from other countries.
“After the Western sanctions, Zelensky perked up and began to hope that the Kiev regime would be able to defend something, drag out this operation and force Russia to accept conditions more favorable to Ukraine.
But this will not happen, ”the analyst emphasized in a comment to RT.
The Kyiv regime canceled the negotiations, as it does not want to negotiate with Moscow and is counting on Western countries that, with their deterrent measures, will allegedly stop the Russian operation, director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin said in an interview with RT.
“The Ukrainian side clearly decided that chaotic sanctions against Russia would impress it, and due to this, there would be some improvement in Kyiv’s negotiating positions.
Apparently, Zelensky is in direct contact with his Western partners - the US and the UK.
He is trying to persuade them to increase pressure on Russia in order to enter the negotiation process, as it seems to him, from a position of strength.
However, such a hope will not come true, ”the expert emphasized.
At the same time, the Kyiv regime is moving to a methodology that resembles the actions of terrorists and militants in Syria, Alexei Mukhin added.
“Placing weapons in residential areas is vile.
The distribution of weapons to the population is provoking pogroms, robberies, criminal elements, and this is even meaner.
In fact, we are talking about a war of all against all, that is, the population is being pushed not to organized resistance, but to robbery and looting.
I believe that this measure by the Ukrainian authorities will be the subject of careful consideration for a legal assessment after everything is over, ”concluded the RT interlocutor.