Russian Foreign Ministry calls 2022 developments a possible basis for dialog on Ukraine

The 2022 documents on the country's non-aligned nuclear-free status may become the basis for possible negotiations on Ukraine, the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mykhaylo Galuzin, has said on 10 February. This was reported by the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Galuzin, on February 10.

"The basis for future agreements may be the developments of the 2022 negotiations on Ukraine's neutral non-aligned non-nuclear-weapon-free status," he said in a conversation with RIA Novosti.

In addition, Galuzin recalled that the document includes provisions on the country's demilitarization and denazification, as well as a ban on the deployment of foreign troops and bases on Ukrainian territory.

The deputy foreign minister also emphasized the importance of taking into account in the negotiations the current realities on the "ground" and the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he announced in June 2024.

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Earlier in the day, Galuzin said that Moscow had not received any concrete, satisfactory proposals for the start of negotiations. The diplomat noted that the West often reports about the imminent start of negotiations appear only to heat up the information field.

The Russian president has repeatedly reminded that Russia has never refused from peace talks, but they should be conducted on the basis of the provisions agreed upon in Istanbul and not on the basis of "ephemeral demands." Also on January 28, Putin specified that "anyone" can negotiate with Russia from Ukraine's side, but legitimate people should sign documents on the results of the decisions.

On June 14 last year, the Russian leader named the conditions for a dialog on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, adding that Russia has always sought peace and is ready to sit down at the negotiating table even tomorrow. Thus, Putin said that Ukrainian troops should be withdrawn from all territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.

The last round of negotiations took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4 of the same year, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin was put into effect.