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Ukrainian presidential office says 4th round of talks with Russia to be tough

According to Mikhail Podolyak, peace, ceasefire, immediate troop pullout and security guarantees for Ukraine will be discussed

Ukrainian Presidential Office Advisor Mikhail Podolyak Alexander Kryazhev/POOL/TASS

Ukrainian Presidential Office Advisor Mikhail Podolyak

© Alexander Kryazhev/POOL/TASS

KIEV, March 14. /TASS/. Ukrainian presidential office adviser Mikhail Podolyak expects that another, fourth round of talks with Russia, scheduled to begin on Monday by video link will be tough.

"The fourth round of negotiations. On peace, ceasefire, immediate troop pullout and security guarantees. Tough discussion is due," he said on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS Russian and Ukrainian delegates would continue negotiations by video link on Monday. Ukrainian delegation member David Arakhamiya, the leader of the ruling party Servant of the People’s parliamentary faction, said the talks would begin at 10:30, without specifying the time belt.

The first round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations was held in the Gomel Region of neighboring Belarus on February 28. It lasted five hours. The second round followed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus on March 3. The delegates met for a third time in the Brest Region of Belarus on March 7. And on March 10 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba held a meeting on the sidelines of the diplomatic forum in Turkey’s Antalya.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 declared a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. Russia demands Ukraine’s demilitarization and denazification, its neutral and nuclear-free status, recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea and the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.

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