Matviyenko described Russia’s special operation as “civil war in Ukraine”.

Federation Council President Matviyenko, in a meeting with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, said that Russia is open to peace talks with Ukraine, but there is no such preparation for Kyiv.

“We are open to negotiations. <...> “We are ready for negotiations for the signing of agreements that will end the civil war in Ukraine and lead to peace,” Matviyenko said.

He recognizes that it is necessary to find “diplomatic, peaceful solutions,” as the head of the Federation Council puts it. At the same time, Matviyenko emphasized that “the will of both parties” is needed for negotiations. »[Мы] We do not see such a reaction from Kiev,” he said.

Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, said on May 28 that in order to resume negotiations, Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory.

Lies that “Ukraine refuses to negotiate” are once again being produced in Moscow. Real negotiations are possible if Russia abandons the hypocrisy (we say one thing, we do another), if it leaves the south of the country and withdraws its troops.

Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on May 11 that negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine continued “very slowly and ineffectively”. Then, on May 27, he even stated that the negotiation process was “frozen”. Podolyak confirmed on 17 May that the negotiations were “by no means” continuing.

The adviser to the Ukrainian president explained that this is not about the Ukrainian delegation’s “withdrawal or not leaving” the negotiation process, but about “relevance and specificity at this stage”.

“There will be features – political negotiations will continue. <...> HE [процесс переговоров] it will be reinstated and, it seems to me, the moderator will be Zelensky.”

Russia has repeatedly accused Kiev of refusing to meet halfway and continue negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kiev often changes positions and that “Ukrainian leadership in general is constantly making contradictory statements”.

At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 27 that Russia is slowing the process. According to him, Moscow wants to issue an ultimatum and does not want to hold real peace talks.

The Ukrainian leader also noted that for his part, he constantly tries to personally hold talks with Putin, as he believes that only the president makes decisions in the Russian hierarchy. Zelenskiy also said that he only agreed to talk to Putin “without intermediaries, on terms of dialogue, not on terms of ultimatum”.

“HE [Путин] He established a state where no one could decide. It doesn’t matter what the foreign minister says. It doesn’t matter if he sends a delegation to a meeting to talk to us. All these people mean nothing unfortunately,” Zelensky explained.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Turkey at the end of March for the last time. Then Kyiv conveyed its proposals to resolve the situation. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, later said Moscow had sent response documents but received no response.