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Kiev, West's upcoming 'peace formula' meeting in Saudi Arabia is 'sham' — diplomat

Maria Zakharova noted that the meeting was "bait" for those countries that are honestly seeking a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict in order to avoid further escalation

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/.The meeting which Kiev and the West organized in Saudi Arabia based on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s "peace formula," is a farce and is intended to forge an anti-Russian coalition, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"The meeting initiated by the Kiev regime and its Western curators to promote Zelensky's [peace] formula is a sham," Zakharova said speaking at a news briefing.

"This is neither a conference of a scientific and practical nature nor a meeting of diplomats to find political solutions, but an attempt to take advantage of the sincere intentions of a number of states in order to forge an anti-Russian coalition," she added.

Zakharova noted that the meeting was "bait" for those countries that are honestly seeking a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict in order to avoid further escalation and these countries had been invited "with the aim of developing some kind of supposed peace initiative, to settle the situation."

"However, it’s a sham; it's another staged event to gather caring states under the guise of putting together an anti-Russian coalition, showing the pseudo unity of the world in terms of rejecting Russia's actions," she said.

On July 29, The Wall Street Journal quoted sources as saying that Saudi Arabia planned to hold peace talks on Ukraine in Jeddah on August 5-6.

According to the newspaper, senior officials from 30 countries were ready to attend the meeting. Russia was not on the list. It was reported that the European Union, Britain, Poland and South Africa had already confirmed their participation in the consultations, and the presence of US presidential national security advisor Jake Sullivan was expected.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow would keep an eye on the peace meeting on Ukraine due in Saudi Arabia, but its aims are yet to be clarified.

Zakharova previously stated that the meeting in Saudi Arabia would not be useless, as it would help the West to realize that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's so-called peace plan is a dead end.

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Foreign policy Maria Zakharova

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