MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Moscow is ready to negotiate resolving the Ukraine crisis, provided such talks would address the core causes of the situation and take into account Russia’s demands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian and foreign media in an interview.
"We are always ready for talks, and we are ready once again <…>, we are ready to reiterate this position always. We are open to any negotiations, provided they essentially discuss the core causes [behind the Ukraine crisis] and the key principles put forward by President [Vladimir] Putin in June as he addressed the Foreign Ministry right here," Lavrov explained.
He recounted a remark by Keith Kellogg, nominated as US President-elect’s special envoy for Ukraine, who said, recalling the Minsk agreements, that they were a failed attempt to reach an agreement with Moscow. Those agreements, Lavrov argued, were not an attempt but rather they were a real solution to the conflict, approved by the United Nations Security Council. However, they were later "undermined" by Ukraine at US connivance, Lavrov complained. "Hopefully, the administration of Mr. Trump, including Mr. Kellogg, will try to understand the root causes of the conflict," he said.
According to Lavrov, the demands put forward by Putin are not preconditions for talks. "Instead, these are demands to implement everything that we signed while adopting the UN Charter," the Russian foreign minister concluded.
At a meeting with the Foreign Ministry on June 14, Putin set out the country’s conditions for resolving the situation in Ukraine. Among them are the withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces from Donbass and Novorossiya and Kiev’s refusal to join NATO. In addition, Russia wants all Western sanctions against it lifted and demands that Ukraine commit to a non-aligned and nuclear-free status. The rights, freedoms, and interests of its Russian-speaking population need to be ensured, too.