MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Moscow is open to serious proposals on resolving the Ukrainian crisis but will not accept ultimatums, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.
When commenting on Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba’s remark about the importance of Zelensky’s "peace formula," she said: "Unfortunately, it is another attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to mislead the international community and its own people."
"Zelensky’s so-called ‘peace formula’ has nothing to do with peace. It is just a list of ultimatum demands for Russia, which are detached from reality. The plan particularly demands that Russian troops be withdrawn from Russian regions (the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and even Crimea), Russia pay reparations and even plead guilty at international tribunals. The goal of the Ukrainian ‘peace formula’ is to make Russia surrender with Western help," Zakharova noted.
"We have repeatedly stated that we are open to really serious proposals from the West and Ukraine on finding a political and diplomatic solution to the crisis but we will not accept the language of ultimatums," the Russian diplomat emphasized.
"In order to ensure sustainable peace, there is a need to demand that the provision of weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine should come to an end, military activities should stop, Ukraine should restore its neutral status, and the new situation on the ground, which stems from the right of peoples to self-determination, should be recognized at the international level. In addition, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine need to take place, all threats coming from its territory need to be eliminated and its non-nuclear status needs to be guaranteed along with respect for the rights of Russian speakers and ethnic minorities," Zakharova said.
However, "the Kiev regime has long turned into a tool that the US and NATO use in their standoff with Russia." "They aren’t at all interested in finding a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman noted. She specified that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made it clear that the US was determined to continue providing Ukraine with weapons instead of engaging in a diplomatic process with Russia in order to resolve the crisis.
Zakharova recommended that all counties who wished to contribute to resolving the situation direct their calls for peace towards Kiev and "its Western puppeteers, who have been dragging Ukraine into the dangerous whirlpool of a global confrontation.".