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Top lawmaker says West won’t let Ukraine hold talks with Russia yet

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on October 4 put into effect a decision of the country’s National Security and Defense Council that prohibits talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin

JAKARTA, October 5. /TASS/. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko on Wednesday said Western countries are preventing Kiev from holding talks with Russia about the situation in Ukraine.

She made the statement at a meeting with the chairperson of Namibia’s National Council, Lukas Sinimbo Muha, which took place on the sidelines of the G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit in Indonesia.

"We have repeatedly stated, and the president of Russia [Vladimir Putin] said in his last speech that Russia is ready for negotiations. But because Ukraine is not an independent country, and is completely under the external control of the West, they (the Ukrainian authorities - TASS) are not allowed to do that yet. They said that they were not ready for talks," Matviyenko said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on October 4 put into effect a decision of the country’s National Security and Defense Council that prohibits talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented by saying it takes two sides to hold talks, so Russia will wait for a change in the position of the current or next president of Ukraine regarding dialogues with Moscow.

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Foreign policy Valentina Matviyenko

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