MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Mikhail Podolyak has lambasted the conflict settlement initiatives advanced by Brazil, the Vatican, China, and African nations as leaning towards the Russian side.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is meeting with the business elite and says that he will speak with the Brazilian president [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] to discuss Brazil’s peace plan for settling the situation in Ukraine. We saw Pope Francis’ interview with Telemundo (a TV channel - TASS) where he said that the war should be ended immediately and it is necessary to begin talks in this direction," he told Ukrainian television channels. "This is a massive reset of the information space and Russia is behind it."
"Everyone is talking about peace, how it is necessary to move toward this peace and make some compromises," he said, adding that those who call for a compromise are "lobbying for Russia."
He slammed China’s proposal on a ceasefire in Ukraine as "absurd," as it would mean Ukraine’s "capitulation." "This is not a peace plan, this is a capitulation plan," Podolyak stressed, adding that "the subjectivity" of African countries’ peace initiative should not be "overestimated."
When asked whether the West’s security guarantees like the ones issued to Israel will satisfy Ukraine, he said, "Two things: swift weapons supplies, because we are not a member of the military alliance and a basic NATO membership will satisfy us after the war." "The rest is mere talk about abstract things," he stressed.
Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He gave principled assessments about what is happening in Ukraine and reiterated the Russian side’s openness for dialogue on the political and diplomatic track, which is still blocked by Kiev and its Western sponsors, the Kremlin press service said.
The Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing its sources, that during his recent visit to Europe, China’s Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, while leaving Russia in possession of its new regions.
In an interview with Telemundo, a US Spanish-language television channel, on Friday, Pope Francis called the conflict between Russia and Ukraine a "political problem" and said that peace is only possible if the two countries talk to each other.
The Politico newspaper said last week, citing former and incumbent US officials, that the US administration was looking at offering security guarantees to Ukraine in the long-term, including arms deals, like it is done as part of the US' cooperation with Israel.