The State Duma called Zelensky's words about distrust of the Russian Federation an excuse for his own actions

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky speaks of distrust of Russia to justify his own actions to escalate the conflict. Yuri Shvytkin, Deputy chairman of the State Duma's Defense committee, told Izvestia on April 14.

On April 13, Zelensky said in an interview with CBS that Kiev could not trust Russia and the agreements that were concluded with Moscow during the negotiations.

"Such statements once again indicate that Zelensky and the regime he heads are not interested in holding negotiations, are not interested in peaceful regulation of the process. With this very statement, he is trying to justify his actions to escalate tensions and continue shelling the territory of our country," the MP said.

He also added that such statements may end when the countries of the European Union (EU) and the United States stop supplying Ukraine with weapons.

"The weapons provided to the Kiev regime by, in particular, the United States, and the intelligence provided to Kiev, of course, do not play to the benefit of de—escalating the conflict," Shvytkin concluded.

The stage of the concept: The Russian Federation and the United States are negotiating on Ukraine on a bilateral basis

Why is it unlikely to achieve a ceasefire by Easter and when is a meeting between Putin and Trump possible?

On March 18, during negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and American leader Donald Trump agreed on the mutual refusal of Moscow and Kiev from attacks on energy infrastructure, on the same day, the head of the Russian state gave the appropriate order to Russian structures. At the same time, after Zelensky publicly agreed to suspend strikes on the energy sector, the Ukrainian army attacked an energy facility in the village of Kavkazskaya in the Krasnodar Territory.

On April 12, Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the second CIS Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, announced that Ukraine had violated the agreement on a 30-day moratorium on attacks on Russian energy facilities more than 60 times. The relevant agreement expires on April 16. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted, its extension will depend on the decision of the Russian president.