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Military operation in Ukraine

Russian delegation not to concede on any provision during talks with Ukraine — MP

Leonid Slutsky stressed that the talks were meant to find common ground on the key issues - military, political, humanitarian

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. The Russian-Ukrainian talks are not proceeding smoothly but the Russian delegation will not concede on any of the items on the talks agenda, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house) and a member of the Russian delegation to the talks, said on Wednesday.

"Bearing in mind that the talks are not proceeding smoothly, I’d rather refrain from speaking about them. The talks are not a PR campaign, they are meant to find common ground on the key issues - military, political, humanitarian. It is not an easy task, but the Russian delegation will not concede on any of the provisions on the agenda, it will cede not a single millimeter, figuratively speaking," he said in an interview with the Vesti FM radio station.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

The first round of Russian-Ukrainian talks was held in Belarus’ Gomel region on February 28. The talks lasted for five hours. The second round of talks was held on March 3 in Belarus. The delegations met for the third round of talks on March 7, also in Belarus. The talks yielded no significant results and both parties admitted it. Nevertheless, they expressed readiness to continue talks and noted some progress on the topic of humanitarian corridors. Neither the date nor the venue of the next round have been announced. However, according to Slutsky, it will be organized in Belarus in the near future.

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Foreign policy Military operation in Ukraine

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