All news

Top lawmaker says Ukrainian parliament members ignored invitation to start talks

Valentina Matviyenko stressed that Ukraine isn’t free to make its decisions
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko Yegor Aleyev/TASS
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko
© Yegor Aleyev/TASS

JAKARTA, October 6. /TASS/. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko on Thursday said Ukrainian parliament members didn’t react to an invitation to start talks for a peaceful settlement because they aren’t free to make their decisions.

"It’s clear that there’s no reaction [to the invitation to start talks]. That’s because Ukraine isn’t free to make its decisions. It can’t make any decisions on its own, without its masters. That has again revealed the essence of what is happening in Ukraine," she told reporters.

Earlier on Thursday, Matviyenko, who is attending the G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit in Indonesia, said during her speech that she was inviting the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to sit down at the negotiating table, and that Russia is in favor of a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on October 4 put into effect the 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 dialogue with Moscow.