Moscow: Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that the EU-3 grouping, comprising of Britain, Germany, and France, is putting forward unacceptable conditions for a settlement in Ukraine, local media reported.
“The Europeans are pursuing a course aimed at preventing the creation of conditions for negotiations on a truly comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
On June 7, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks at Downing Street.
Following the meeting, they issued a joint statement outlining five conditions for the commencement of the settlement process.
These conditions include stopping the fighting and immediate and complete ceasefire, and International borders not be changed by force, and Ukraine’s right to choose its own security arrangements and alliances must be fully respected.
Its conditions also demand robust and legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, including the deployment of a multinational force and maintaining the freeze on Russian assets until Russia compensates for damages caused by the War.
They also demanded the consent of the EU and its Member States and NATO Allies for any negotiation related to the EU and NATO.
Zakharova, however, said on Thursday that there’s nothing new in the statement by the three European leaders and that they tried to advance the same ideas in 2022-2024 in the Copenhagen and Burgenstock formats, supporting the “dead-end Zelensky formula.”
“Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov also spoke about the contradictory positions of France, Germany, and Britain. The leaders of these countries pretend to call for peace with their statements, but in reality, they are setting a priori unacceptable conditions, increasing the production of long-range weapons for Kyiv, and generally taking steps toward the militarisation of Ukraine and Europe,” Zakharova emphasised.
“It’s noteworthy that they themselves don’t hide this. Two weeks ago, on May 28 of this year, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, stated the following: ‘Europe will never be a neutral mediator between Russia and Ukraine, because we are on Ukraine’s side and defending our own security interests.’ Thus, she admitted that Europe is essentially seeking a seat at the negotiating table as part of a unified delegation of the West and Ukraine against Russia,” the diplomat noted.
(IANS)
