The spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, stated on Friday that security guarantees for Ukraine should not be a precondition for negotiations, but a consequence of a peaceful resolution, taking into account the fundamental causes of the conflict.
“It is important to understand that providing security guarantees is not a precondition, but a result of achieving a peaceful resolution based on eliminating the fundamental reasons for the crisis in Ukraine. That will, in turn, ensure the security of our country,” said Zakharova at a press briefing in Moscow.
She added that the outcomes of the negotiations should include demilitarization, denazification, neutrality, non-alignment, and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, recognition of territorial realities, protection of the rights of Russians and the Russian-speaking population, and an end to the persecution of the Orthodox Church.
She emphasized that the proposals for security guarantees put forward by Western countries could only lead to instability, noting that Western nations are seeking to undermine the neutral, non-bloc, and non-nuclear status of Ukraine.
“This approach violates the principle of indivisible security and cements the role of Kyiv as a strategic provocateur on Russia’s borders, increasing the risk of dragging NATO into an armed conflict with our country. This tactic is widely described in international legal literature; there is nothing new here. So, we see such a strategic provocateur emerging near our borders,” she stressed.
