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The lifting of sanctions on Russia is part of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, which are “tough” but ongoing on a daily basis, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in statements published early Saturday.
On Friday, Kyiv warned that discussions to terminate Russia’s invasion, which is now in its third month, were in danger of breaking down.
“At the moment, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are evaluating a draught of a possible treaty through video-conferencing on a daily basis,” Lavrov said in comments to China’s official Xinhua news agency, which were posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s webpage.
Since the invasion began on February 24, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed that Western sanctions against Russia must be reinforced and cannot be part of negotiations.
Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face peace talks since March 29, and the mood has soured as a result of Ukrainian charges that Russian troops committed crimes when they withdrew from areas near Kyiv. The claims have been disputed by Moscow.
Moscow refers to its efforts in Ukraine as a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour. Ukraine and the West claim Russia launched an unjustified aggression.
“The agenda of the negotiations also includes, among other things, denazification, the acceptance of new geopolitical realities, the easing of sanctions, and the status of the Russian language,” Lavrov said, without elaborating.
“We are in favour of continuing the dialogues, even if they are difficult,” Lavrov stated.
Ukraine’s Western allies have imposed severe sanctions on Moscow. They have frozen roughly half of Russia’s official gold and foreign currency reserves, crippling the Russian economy and pushing it to the brink of national default.
