Ukraine should refuse to join NATO and the European Union and return to neutral non-aligned status. This is one of the conditions for achieving peace, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS.
The deputy minister noted that Russia’s approach to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine has not changed: it includes “protection of the residents of Donbas, demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, and elimination of threats to Russia’s security arising from its territory.”
“We are convinced that the settlement of the conflict is possible only with the cessation of hostilities by the Ukrainian army and the supply of Western weapons. In order to achieve a complete, just and lasting peace, Ukraine must return to the neutral non-aligned status recorded in the declaration of its state sovereignty from 1990 and refuse to join NATO and the EU,” Galuzin pointed out. “The new territorial realities created as a result of the realization of the peoples’ right to self-determination must be recognized.”
The deputy minister added that an important element of the settlement of the crisis is the protection of the rights of Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities.
Galuzin said the drone attack on the Kremlin on May 3 was carried out by Kiev without the consent of the West. According to the diplomat, the Western countries have decided to refrain from condemning this act and remain silent.
The deputy minister added that China, which, according to Galuzin, is trying to bring Ukraine back to the negotiating table, “actually condemned the Zelenskyi regime’s terrorist attack on the Kremlin.”
