Peskov called negotiations with Kiev the preferred option for resolving the conflict
“The President (of Russia Vladimir Putin. — Ed.) has said repeatedly that President Zelensky has clearly lost his legitimacy, and that an analysis of the constitution and laws of the relevant Ukraine allows us to draw a conclusion about who can [become] a successor to the post of the country’s leader,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman added that peace talks are the preferred option for resolving this crisis, because the special military operation to protect Donbass was launched as a last resort. Russia has never abandoned the peace process for the Ukrainian settlement and remains ready for dialogue, it is important for it to ensure its interests and security.
Peskov also said that the Kremlin does not know what is behind the statements of the head of the Ukrainian MFA Dmytro Kuleba about Ukraine's readiness to conduct a dialogue with Moscow and has not even heard these words from the minister himself. The Kremlin hopes to receive an explanation of what was meant in the near future.
Any armed conflict, as the Russian leader's press secretary emphasized, always ends in negotiations, and the Russian Federation will definitely achieve its goals. Peskov noted that the presence of factors that will slow down and complicate this process is completely obvious.
Earlier that day, the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, reported that Kuleba had declared Kiev's readiness to negotiate with the Russian side during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Wang Yi warned his Ukrainian counterpart about the threat of escalation of the conflict. The Chinese minister emphasized that Beijing is exclusively in favor of resolving the crisis through political means and dialogue.
Peskov later commented on Kuleba's words, saying that their message itself is in line with the Russian position, but in this case the details, which are still unknown, are very important.
Recently, Ukraine has increasingly talked about negotiations with the Russian Federation. Thus, on July 20, the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term expired on May 20, said that Kyiv would be ready to talk to Moscow at the second conference on the Ukrainian conflict. According to him, it is necessary to negotiate if Ukraine wants the conflict to end.
On July 24, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that Moscow has no faith in the Kyiv regime, and Russia does not see any real actions from Ukraine to resolve the conflict.
Russia, for its part, has repeatedly proposed starting peace talks to resolve the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 14 that the country has always strived for peace and is ready to sit down at the negotiating table even tomorrow. To implement this, Kiev must abandon its desire to join NATO and withdraw its troops from Russian regions.
The last round of negotiations took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kyiv officially refused to contact Moscow. On October 4 of the same year, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the impossibility of holding negotiations with Putin was put into effect.
