Medinskyi says Russia's conditions at 2022 talks were «softer»

Vladimir Medinskyi. Photo: TASS

The head of the Russian delegation to the talks, Vladimir Medinskyi, said that the conditions that Russia offered in 2022 were allegedly «softer» than those it is putting forward today.

He said this in an interview with RT, fragments of which were replicated by Russian media.

Medinskyi claims that if Ukraine had been ready and «made its own decisions», a peace agreement could have been signed as early as 28 February 2022. And it only stipulated that Ukraine would not join NATO and would not deploy foreign bases on its territory.

In addition, it was about allegedly equal rights in Ukraine for the Russian language and the UOC-MP and the recognition of Crimea as Russian. After all, according to Medinskyi, «there was the most democratically conducted referendum imaginable».

He said that after the Russian delegation presented the draft treaty in 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly «was silent for two weeks» and met with representatives of the UK and the US during that time.

«After that, the Russians were told: «Our foreign partners are against the conclusion of the treaty». Which we have already agreed on,» says Vladimir Medinskyi.

As a reminder, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not support the idea of holding talks with Ukraine at the level of leaders. He also compared the Ukrainian government to a terrorist organisation.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to meet with Vladimir Putin in person and offered Russia a temporary ceasefire before he did.