“The leadership of the country does not proceed from the interests of citizens”: Medinsky on the influence of the West on Kyiv in the negotiation process

- Is the success of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum evidence of the impossibility of isolating Russia?

- Isolation of Russia is absolutely impossible either economically or politically, the forum goes on as it goes.

And next year will be, and in a year.

There have been attempts to isolate Russia many times throughout history, but nothing has ever worked.

- Has the possibility of any rapprochement with the West been missed because of the military special operation?

And when will Western countries be able to reconsider their positions towards Russia?

When will countries change their position?

It depends on them.

When Western countries put the interests of their citizens, the interests of their businesses, the interests of their residents at the forefront, then this position will change.

Now some incomprehensible political ambitions or direct orders from the United States as the real leader of the Western world are being put at the forefront.

- What is the fate of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations after their suspension?

Is there any hope for their renewal?

And where did they stop?

- In mid-April, approximately 3/4 of the text of the agreement was agreed upon by both negotiating groups - both Russian and Ukrainian - and submitted to Kyiv for approval by the President of Ukraine.

So far there is no answer.

Moreover, the negotiation activity has been frozen at the initiative of the Ukrainian side.

According to the information we have, the leadership of the United States, who came to Kyiv, the head of the State Department, the head of the Pentagon and the leaders of other Western countries, but primarily the United States, refused to give Ukraine the international security guarantees that it asked for and refused to discuss and support the continuation of the peace process with Russia.

We have this feeling.

Unfortunately, this is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people when the country's leadership proceeds not from the interests of its own citizens, but from the position of other countries.

• Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, March 29, 2022

• RIA News

• © Sergey Karpukhin

- What is contained in the document submitted to Ukraine, to which it has not yet responded?

- I would not like to disclose the content of the document - this is a specific issue of diplomatic negotiations, it is premature to talk about it.

But most of this document was agreed upon by the negotiators.

“As we know, every war ends with negotiations.

What about Ukraine's position regarding Crimea, the DPR and the LPR?

Can we say that this issue has already been resolved and there is no reason to discuss it?

- Firstly, not every war ends with negotiations, some wars end with complete and unconditional surrender.

Secondly, as regards Crimea and Donbass, this issue does not exist for Russia.

Crimea is a sovereign part of Russia, enshrined in the Constitution, and the will of the people was repeatedly expressed both in elections and in a referendum.

In full accordance with the UN Charter, in full accordance with the precedent decision of the International Court of Justice, the will of the people of Crimea was fixed.

Non-recognition (status. -

) of Crimea by a number of Western countries and Ukraine is a gross violation of international law and UN principles.

This is part of Russia.

With regard to the Donbass, the will of Russia and the position of Russia are also unchanged: the people want to determine their own destiny and are ready to defend it with weapons in their hands, which they have been doing for more than eight years, subjected to permanent armed aggression from Ukraine.

By the way, the Kosovo precedent and the decision of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo also completely legitimize the situation in Donbass.

Unfortunately, the very concept of international law seems to have ceased to exist for the West in the last three months.

— How does Russia imagine the neutrality of Ukraine?

Are there any guarantees for this?

- We have repeatedly said that we are interested in having a friendly, neutral and good-neighborly state next to Russia.

This is our goal, we want to be friends with our neighbors.

We do not want our neighbor to be anti-Russia, to be the spearhead of the West and NATO aimed at our hearts.

It will not happen.

- How do you assess the role of Poland in the events in Ukraine and its desire to control the western part of the country's territory?

- Warsaw and Krakow historically always wanted to own Ukraine and Russian lands in Little Russia.

Sometimes they succeeded.

They probably dream of the old times of the Commonwealth, and, of course, this is very dangerous, first of all, for Ukraine itself - they should think about it.

All the actions taken by Poland today speak of this, of the desire to return to the Commonwealth, Greater Poland from sea to sea.

- Won't NATO and Washington's arms deliveries to Kyiv push to a non-return to the negotiation process?

“The weapons that NATO and the United States are supplying to Kyiv are killing civilians, Russians and Ukrainians, and leading to a prolongation of the conflict.

That's the only way to deal with it.

This is not a solution to the problem, this is an aggravation of the problem, this is the desire to fight to the last Ukrainian.

• A cargo of weapons from the United States at Boryspil airport, January 25, 2022

• Legion Media

• © Volodymyr Tarasov / Avalon

To what extent do events on the battlefield influence the course of negotiations?

Will the offensive of the DPR and LPR forces, supported by the Russian army, force the Kyiv authorities to sit down at the negotiating table?

- Only love for one's country, respect for one's people, the desire to achieve peace - only this can force the Kyiv authorities to sit down at the negotiating table.

As long as they are guided not by their own national interests, but by the interests of those countries and regimes that use Ukraine and Ukrainians to weaken Russia, to war with Russia, fight Russia with their hands, until then, unfortunately, the conflict can continue .

As soon as they think about themselves, about their people, this armed confrontation will end immediately.

Russia has always said, says and will continue to say that we are interested in peace, and the peace talks were interrupted on the Ukrainian initiative.

How do you assess Turkey's mediation in these negotiations?

- Turkey, as I understand it, sincerely wanted to help in achieving progress in the negotiations and organizationally helped a lot in holding one of the rounds of negotiations on its territory.

Unfortunately, all the agreements reached by the negotiators in Turkey were disavowed by the Ukrainian side.

- They also talk about Italian mediation.

What can you say about this and is it in the interests of Moscow?

— We have not seen the proposal of the Italian side.

This is a paper that was prepared, as far as I know, by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to the UN leadership.

It did not officially arrive in Russia, so it is unlawful to comment on it.

But we welcome any efforts aimed at achieving peace, if these efforts are dictated by an objective desire for peace.

Not self-promotion, but the real interests of Russia and the Russian people.