The negotiation process, even if it does not bring quick visible results, is significant for achieving mutual understanding between Russia and Ukraine. This is how State Duma deputy Dmitry Novikov assessed the results of the meeting between Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Dmitry Kuleba in a conversation with Lenta.ru.
“No one really expected a breakthrough. After all, no signals of readiness to accept the conditions for demilitarization, denazification, recognition of the status of the DPR and LPR have been received from President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. Accordingly, there were no instructions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who himself takes a rather tough position. At the same time, this does not mean that negotiations are not needed: the more diplomats talk, the easier it is to reach the level of mutual understanding and untie the whole knot of accumulated problems,” Novikov noted.
In negotiations in Belarus, as the politician noted, exactly the same approach is used. The only difference is the more complex composition of the delegations.
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs, of course, determines a lot in the work of diplomatic departments. But there are people in the delegations who act directly as representatives of the presidents of their countries. And we cannot rule out that this channel for the communication of the presidents, who ultimately make decisions, is extremely important,” Novikov explained.
The meeting between Lavrov and Kuleba took place in Turkey. As a result of the talks, the parties failed to reach new agreements on a political settlement of the conflict.
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine took place after three rounds of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Belarus to find a way out of the conflict against the backdrop of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. So far, they have managed to agree on the organization of gum corridors, the delivery of food and medicine with the announcement of a silence regime.