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Russia-Ukraine talks proceeding less substantively than they should — Kremlin

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. The Kremlin is not making public details of the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations not to impair the negotiating process, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"Ukraine is a sovereign state and it can and should have some domestic political procedures," he told reporters when asked about the Kremlin’s attitude to the idea of a possible referendum in Ukraine on issues of compromise solutions with Russia.

"But along with that, there are matters that are being negotiated by the two delegations. I cannot go into detail but we are convinced that if these matters are made public now, it may impair the negotiating process, which is proceeding much more slowly and less substantively than we would like," he said.

When asked about the Kremlin’s attitude toward such a referendum in Ukraine if it is organized after the delegation agree a package of solutions, Peskov noted that it also "depends on a number of parameters that can and should be discussed by our negotiators." "Our negotiating team enjoys the authority, has necessary expertise, and has the necessary political will of the head of state. Now, it is up to our Ukrainian vis-а-vis

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country, and to defeat nationalist armed units, which are directly responsible for genocide in Donbass.

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 Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in Belarus. The delegations met for the third round of talks on March 7, in the Brest region, also in Belarus. More rounds were held in the online format.