Russia is ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire only within the framework of Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Belarus.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this after talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Antalya (Turkey), Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"We did not come here to replace the negotiating track, which was created by the President of Russia and the President of Ukraine and which is unfolding on Belarusian territory. It is there that all practical issues are discussed. It was there that it was explained in detail what needs to be done to end this crisis. This includes demilitarization, denazification, ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine, and a number of other things. There is a business conversation going on there," Lavrov said.
He noted that Russia had initially warned its negotiating colleagues in Turkey that it did not intend to create a parallel platform for negotiations.
"Here, no one was going to agree on a ceasefire. All these proposals and the sequence of steps outlined in these proposals are well known to the Ukrainian side," he said.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, Kuleba, following a meeting with Lavrov in Turkey, said that Russia ties the possibility of a ceasefire solely to the fulfillment of the requirements voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and confirmed that Ukraine is ready for diplomacy and seeking diplomatic solutions, but does not intend to surrender.
Earlier, Russia put forward demands for Ukraine to have a neutral status of the country (not joining NATO), to recognize Crimea as Russian, and LPR and DPR as independent republics.
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