Russo-Ukrainian negotiations 'stall in place' on key points

Russia announced Friday that negotiations with Ukraine have not made progress on the main points, 30 days after the Russian military attack on its pro-Western neighbor.

Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told reporters, "With regard to the minor points, the positions converge, but as for the main points, they are in fact at a standstill," as quoted by Russian news agencies.

He added that Moscow stresses the signing of a "detailed agreement" that takes into account the conditions of neutrality, disarmament and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, in addition to recognizing Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and the independence of the two pro-Moscow separatist "republics" in the Donbass region.

The Russian negotiator explained that "what worries (Kyiv) in particular is obtaining security guarantees from other powers in the event that Ukraine is not able to join NATO," adding that this position is "completely understandable."

And after direct meetings began between the delegations of the two countries, negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are taking place via videoconference on an almost daily basis.

At a certain stage, the two sides expressed their optimism about reaching positive results, before they talked about the differences between them in recent days.

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