YEKATERINBURG, June 21. /TASS/. Kiev was close to a peaceful solution and to signing a treaty on a neutral status and security guarantees for Ukraine last year, but this did not suit Ukraine's handlers in the West, so they deliberately chose to disrupt the negotiation process, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky told TASS on Wednesday.
"Russia was ready for a peaceful solution, not in word, but in deed. Moreover, Kiev was pretty close to such a solution. But such a decision did not suit Ukraine's handlers in the West, <...> they absolutely knowingly opted to derail the negotiation process," he said when asked whether he thought it was necessary to publicize any of the agreements within the framework of the treaty on permanent neutrality and security guarantees for Ukraine initialed by the Ukrainian delegation after the negotiations in Istanbul.
Medinsky specified that the Ukrainian delegation did not conceal that it was coordinating every move with the West, so this document is not a revelation for the West. "I don’t think that it is necessary now to make anything public. The document is confidential, but, on the other hand, Kiev has exactly the same text. And this is a guarantee that we are not making anything up," he noted.
At the talks with a delegation of African countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed the treaty on neutrality and security guarantees initialed by the Ukrainian delegation after the talks in Istanbul last year. The UK, China, the US, Turkey, France and Belarus were listed as security guarantors for Ukraine.