“It is very unlikely that there will be any serious agreement with the current regime in Kiev and its patrons in the West”, declared the ambassador, during a press conference with the members of the Association of Correspondents accredited to the UN institutions in Geneva.
Gatilov also claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “self-imposed a ban” on holding talks with any Russian official body and criticized the so-called “peace formula” of the leader in Kiev, categorizing it as “a set of ultimatums”.
Russia no longer considers Switzerland to be a neutral country
Regarding the Swiss government’s public plans to hold a peace summit in Ukraine, the Russian ambassador said that, in principle, his country is not against negotiations, “but we have no one to talk to because Zelenskiy has forbidden himself to do this thing”.
Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree in October 2022 that officially declared the prospect of any negotiations between Kiev and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as “impossible,” but left the door open for talks with Russia.
The decree came after the Russian president proclaimed as part of Russia four occupied Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk (east), Kherson and Zaporozhye (south), in addition to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed as early as 2014.
In addition, Gatilov said that, in the event of a meeting in which Russian and Ukrainian representatives would participate, it could not take place in Switzerland, since Russia no longer considers it a neutral country since it decided to apply all the sanctions of the European Union – of which it is not part – against Russia.
He added that, in any case, there are no movements to indicate the organization of this summit, which could not seriously take place without the participation of Russia.
One of Switzerland’s stated goals is to create a platform for the realization of Ukraine’s reconstruction plans, a topic for which it has organized an international conference in mid-2022.
“Stolen Money”
On the other hand, Gatilov harshly criticized the idea of Switzerland and other European countries to use the profits from the Russian funds frozen in international financial institutions to cover the costs of the assistance given to Ukraine.
“It’s stolen money,” he said, after mentioning that Switzerland had blocked $7 billion of Russian origin.
The ambassador wonders “who does” the armed attack in Moscow serve
Asked about last week’s terror attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, which left at least 139 dead, the Russian diplomatic official said there were many unanswered questions about the attack, such as why the State Islamic State (ISIS) attacked Russia while the Middle East is in the middle of a conflict centered on the Gaza Strip.
He also considered it strange that the extremists committed the attack in the middle of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims, and that it still needs to be clarified “who does this serve”.
The Russian government on Tuesday directly accused Ukraine and its Western allies of being behind the attack, thus following the narrative launched the day before by President Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Profimedia Images
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Tags: Russia Excludes Negotiations Ukraine Organization Peace Summit Switzerland
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