Sergey Lavrov accused Kiev of departing from the Istanbul agreements

“Ukraine submitted to the negotiating group its draft agreement, which is a departure from the most important provisions fixed at the meeting in Istanbul on March 29, moreover, fixed in a document signed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation (David) Arakhamia”, - Lavrov said (quoted from Interfax).

The minister noted that the Ukrainian side, instead of the clear language adopted in the previous round of negotiations, uses vague definitions.

“In the Istanbul document, the Ukrainians clearly formulated that future security guarantees for Ukraine do not apply to Crimea and Sevastopol. In yesterday's draft, this clear statement is absent. Instead, vague formulations are being proposed about some kind of "effective control", moreover, as of February 23”, - the Russian Foreign Minister noted.

He noted that the Ukrainian side proposes to discuss the issues of ownership of Crimea and Donbass at a meeting between the heads of the two countries. Lavrov recalled Zelensky's numerous statements that spoke of the possibility of a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine only after a ceasefire.

“Surely, at the next stage, the Ukrainian side will ask for the withdrawal of troops, (will) pile up more and more preconditions. This idea is understandable, but it is unacceptable”, - Lavrov said.

Further, the minister criticized the manipulations in the draft on the issue of military exercises with the participation of foreign contingents on the territory of Ukraine. In the provided project, contrary to the agreements in Istanbul, other wordings are used. Instead of the consent of all the guarantors of Ukraine's security, now it is said about the "majority", and the participation of the Russian Federation in making such decisions is not mentioned.

“The document signed by Arakhamia explicitly states that in the context of Ukraine’s neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status, any military exercises with the participation of foreign contingents are held only with the consent of all guarantor states, including Russia”, - the minister stressed.

“In the draft treaty received yesterday, this unambiguous provision has also been replaced. Now we are talking about the possibility of conducting exercises with the consent of the majority of guarantor states without any mention of Russia”, - he added.

Lavrov noted that despite the provocations, the Russian delegation continues to negotiate, promoting the Russian draft agreement with the requirements and provisions originally set out. The head of the foreign policy department considers Kyiv's inability to negotiate a deliberate attempt to drag out time and undermine the negotiations.

“Such non-negotiability once again characterizes the true intentions of Kiev, its line of delaying and even undermining negotiations through a departure from the understandings reached”, - Lavrov said.

In his opinion, the West is interested in the further continuation of hostilities in Ukraine, and the actions of Kyiv are fully controlled by Washington and its partners.

“We see this as a manifestation of the fact that the Kiev regime is controlled by Washington and its allies, who are pushing President Zelensky to continue hostilities”, - the minister commented.