MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Russia has never been against the negotiation process, but now it is impossible due to the position of the Kiev authorities, First Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Rashid Nurgaliyev said.
"Today, voices in favor of a peaceful political settlement in Ukraine, even at the cost of losing part of its territory, are growing louder. Russia has never opposed the resumption of the negotiation process. But now, unfortunately, this is impossible due to the position of the Kiev authorities and personally of [Ukrainian] President Vladimir Zelensky, who signed a decree banning negotiations with our country," Nurgaliyev told aif.ru in an interview.
He pointed out that "the conflict has never de-escalated, and before the start of the special military operation, on the contrary, it escalated even more." "The laws passed and the actions of Ukrainian politicians regarding Donbass were aimed only at its escalation. At the end of February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements had ceased to exist. Moscow recognized the independence of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics. As the head of state pointed out at the time, the agreements were 'killed' even before the recognition of the people's republics due to the unwillingness of the Kiev authorities to implement them," Nurgaliyev concluded.