The russian authorities said that they allegedly do not see the possibility of signing a peace memorandum with Ukraine, as they consider the Ukrainian leadership "illegitimate". Thus, moscow is trying to thwart the potential conclusion of an agreement that russian president vladimir putin had previously publicly mentioned.
The russian agency TASS has reported this.
According to the director of the legal department of the russian Foreign Ministry, Maxim Musikhin, in order to sign such a document, in moscow's opinion, a "new government" in Ukraine is necessary. He said: "It is important whose signature, because now their current leader has long lost even internal legitimacy, let alone external. Accordingly, there may be problems with the validity of any agreement that is signed by such a person."
The russian Foreign Ministry official also stressed that the agreement should be signed by a person "who has the mandate of the people," and directly stated that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the kremlin's opinion, is not suitable for this role. "The Ukrainian people need to freely determine their new leader. Then there will be a legitimate signatory," Musikhin said.
He suggested that the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, may have the formal authority, but questioned "whether he will be allowed to do this within his own country."
Musikhin also mentioned putin's initiative regarding the memorandum discussed with US President Donald Trump, stating that it "needs a new signatory," but that "this is a problem" at the moment. According to him, the question of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian side may also arise regarding any other settlement documents.
Despite these statements, there is no reason to consider the current Ukrainian government illegitimate. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, elections are not held during martial law, and elected officials continue to perform their duties until its end.
In addition, the active international activities of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — meetings with the presidents of the United States, France, Germany, and other leaders of states — confirm his international recognition as the head of state.
As a reminder, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported that the aggressor country russia promised to send the United States "the conditions they will require to achieve a ceasefire" with Ukraine after a telephone conversation between President Donald Trump and russian president vladimir putin.
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