MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Moscow is aware Italy’s proposed plan on the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, but still has not received the document’s text wording, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"We have certainly had a glimpse, read and heard about this plan’s parameters, which were circulated by mass media, but we have not received as of yet the official wording [of this document]," Peskov told journalists.
Asked about Deputy Chairman of Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev’s previously announced statement in regard to the document, Peskov said that Medvedev’s position was extremely important, but the Kremlin would come up with its commentaries on the issue after it had received the official information.
Medvedev stated on Tuesday that The Italian plan for settling the Ukrainian crisis is based on rumors found in "provincial newspapers" and fake news.
Last week, La Repubblica daily reported that Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio submitted with the United Nations and G7 partners a proposal on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. The plan stipulates a ceasefire as well as a treaty on "contested territories" and a general multilateral agreement on security guarantees in Europe.
An Italian diplomatic source told TASS earlier that this proposal was in its initial stage of discussions and was likely to form the basis for further negotiations.
Russia’s military operation in Donbass
The situation at the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military in recent months, which damaged civilian infrastructure and caused civilian casualties.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.
Russian President 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 Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.