⚡️Full text of Medinsky's statement on negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation:
Yesterday, the Ukrainian side for the first time recorded, in writing, its readiness to fulfill a number of important conditions for building normal and, I hope, good neighborly relations with Russia in the future.
Let me remind you that after the coup d'état that took place in Ukraine in 2014, Russia put forward these demands for years to both the Kiev regime and its patrons, primarily the United States. Russia offered negotiations, the conclusion of various kinds of agreements that were supposed to guarantee both the security of Ukraine and the protection of Russia's national interests.
All these demands were ignored for years, and from Ukraine, more precisely, from the Ukrainian territory, NATO also created an anti-Russian foothold for years.
Ukraine's entry into NATO, the creation of NATO military bases on its territory seemed to be a matter already resolved. The only question was time.
I will note, and this has already been proven, that purposeful work was also carried out to create biological weapons. Moreover, the issue of Ukraine's acquisition of nuclear weapons was also thrown into the public sphere.
All these years, the Kyiv regime has carried out an open genocide against the inhabitants of Donbass. There is no evidence or evidence for this. There is irrefutable evidence that Kyiv was planning to launch an offensive against the Donbass in the near future, and then Russia would have had to stand up for tens and tens of thousands of our Russian citizens living there anyway.
Under these conditions, Russia was forced to launch a special military operation.
Yesterday, the Kiev authorities, for the first time in all previous years, declared their readiness to negotiate with Russia. They gave us the principles of a possible future agreement, written down on paper, which provide for:
- refusal to join NATO, fixing the bloc-free status of Ukraine;
- renunciation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction;
— refusal to deploy foreign military bases and military contingents;
- an obligation to conduct military exercises only with the consent of the guarantor states, including Russia.
That is, Ukraine has declared its readiness to fulfill the fundamental requirements that Russia has been insisting on for all these years.
If all these obligations are met, then the threat of creating a NATO bridgehead on Ukrainian territory will be eliminated.
This is the essence, meaning and importance of a document previously agreed upon at a sufficiently high level.
However, negotiations, work continues.
I would like to emphasize that the principled position of our side regarding Crimea and Donbass remains unchanged.