The lifting of sanctions imposed on Moscow is part of the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which are «difficult» but continue on a daily basis, Russian diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov told the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Kiev warned yesterday (Friday) that talks to end the Russian invasion, which has now entered its third month, are on the verge of collapse.
«At the present stage, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are discussing a draft treaty on a daily basis via teleconferences,» Lavrov told Xinhua in an interview published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.
Sergei Lavrov accused the West - and NATO in particular - of standing in the way of reaching a political agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine. If the US and NATO are really interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, then they should first change their stance and stop supplying Kiev with weapons and ammunition, the Russian foreign minister argued.
«The agenda of the talks includes, among others, the issues of denazification, recognition of the new geopolitical reality, the lifting of sanctions and the status of the Russian language,» Lavrov said, without further elaboration.
«We are in favour of continuing the negotiations, even though they are difficult», he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted, since the beginning of the Russian invasion on 24 February, that Western sanctions against Moscow should be tightened and that they could not be negotiated.
Ukraine's allies in the West have imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow. They have frozen about half of Russia's gold and currency reserves, severely damaging the Russian economy and bringing Moscow to the brink of bankruptcy.
Representatives of the two countries' governments have not held direct peace talks since late March and the climate has deteriorated after Ukraine's allegations that the Russian army committed atrocities during its withdrawal from areas near Kiev. Moscow has rejected these allegations.
Russia describes the invasion of its neighbouring country as a «special military operation» aimed at «demilitarising» and «denazifying» Ukraine. On the opposite side, Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of starting an unprovoked war.
