ST. PETERSBURG, August 4. /TASS/. Moscow is open to negotiations on Ukraine provided there is a constructive and mature approach from Western countries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS.

"We are always ready for negotiations and open to a negotiated solution, we have repeatedly demonstrated this. It was the other side, the Ukrainian side, that withdrew from the talks, it would pull out, then forbid itself from engaging in them, behaving, to put it very mildly, inconsistently," he said on the sidelines of the third Kazakhstan-Russia Media Forum.

If in the West, "within the camp of Ukraine’s sponsors, there has matured an understanding of the need for an honest, constructive dialogue aimed at addressing the well-known root causes of the conflict, then perhaps prospects for such a dialogue will emerge," the official noted.

"But if not, if there is no such readiness on the other side, and there is no willingness to ensure that the Kiev regime abides by the agreements reached between its Western sponsors and us, then we will continue the special military operation, seek to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, and defend our interests through military means, acting in a targeted and effective manner to minimize destruction and protect our people on both sides of the line of contact," Galuzin added.

The first Media Forum between Russia and Kazakhstan was held at the TASS headquarters in Moscow in November 2024, marking the agency’s 120th anniversary. The second meeting in this format took place last year in Almaty.