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Ukraine rejects calls to seek talks with Russia

Alexey Danilov noted that he was responding to "all sorts of 'insights', expert forecasts, and comments from 'anonymous sources'

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Western countries should not try to persuade Kiev to start negotiations with Moscow, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov believes.

The Foreign Affairs magazine earlier quoted international relations experts Samuel Charap and Jeremy Shapiro as suggesting that Kiev and Western countries should prepare a base for peace talks to settle the conflict in Ukraine.

"The efforts of international mediators representing powerful and influential countries should be directed not at persuading Ukraine, but at getting Russia to act within the framework of international law," he wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia; owned by Meta Corporation, which is recognized as extremist in Russia).

Danilov added that he was responding to "all sorts of 'insights', expert forecasts, and comments from 'anonymous sources', which have intensified in the latest wave of talk about the 'need to reach a consensus', 'ceasefire', 'search for peaceful ways', and 'start of consultations and negotiations'."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February in his interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that Russia has never given up on dialogue on Ukraine, but is not going to make the first step after the termination of talks in Istanbul in March 2022.

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