Ukraine confirms resumption of talks with Russia, says dialogue is “difficult”

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MADRID, March 15. (Royals Blue) –

The adviser to the Presidency of Ukraine Mijailo Podoliak confirmed on Tuesday the resumption of talks with Russia in the context of the conflict, while lamenting that the discussion between the parties is “very difficult”.

The fourth round of talks began electronically on Monday, but a “technical break” was necessary to facilitate “additional work” by working subgroups and the specification of certain definitions, according to Podoliak, who did not provide further details.

“Negotiations have resumed. There is a very difficult discussion between the parties,” the adviser told the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also indicated that the negotiations “continue” and has assured that Russia is trying to “stop” the war.

“I can assure you that this is exactly what we are doing: we are stopping the war that the kyiv regime has waged against the population of Donbas for at least eight years,” he said at a press conference, according to the Russian news agency. interface.

In this regard, he stated that the negotiations are taking place “to guarantee the neutral military status of Ukraine, in the context of security guarantees for all participants in this process, in the context of the demilitarization of Ukraine, so that there is no threats to Russia (…) and in the context of, of course, the end of the policy of Nazification of the country”.

The talks began on February 28, a few days after the start of the offensive, but there has been no substantive progress in any of the sessions. On Sunday it emerged that the negotiating teams have begun to perceive certain points of contact in the talks for a ceasefire and the suspension of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, although there is still a long way to go to specify positions.

Podoliak had said earlier that the “immediate withdrawal” of Russian troops from the country and “security guarantees” would be discussed during the round of talks.

Neither of the two negotiating teams has wanted to specify requests in public. Until now, it was known that Russia was demanding that Ukraine recognize the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, forget about its aspirations over Crimea and promise that it would never join NATO, demands that are unacceptable in principle for Ukraine.