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Ukraine war: Russia says sanctions, Ukraine's neutral status under Kyiv-Moscow discussion
Ukraine-Russia war: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine’s neutral state status could be comparable to Sweden and Austria. "This is an option that is being discussed now and that can be considered as a compromise," he said.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said the issue of sanctions on Russia by Western nations over its invasion of Ukraine was discussed during the last round of talks with representatives of its east-European nation.
Also, discussions were held regarding creating a “neutral status” of Ukraine with security guarantees, said Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, while adding that a “business-like spirit” had emerged at the negotiation table.
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“There are concrete formulations that in my view are close to being agreed,” he added While he did not elaborate on the same, Lavrov said the talks gave hope “hope that we can agree on this issue”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine’s neutral state status could be comparable to Sweden and Austria. "This is an option that is being discussed now and that can be considered as a compromise," he said.
The latest round of talks with Ukraine, which started on Monday, were set to continue on Wednesday. Russia's chief negotiator said the two sides were discussing a possible compromise idea for a future Ukraine with a smaller, non-aligned military.
“A whole range of issues tied with the size of Ukraine's army is being discussed,” Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said, according to Russian news agencies.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials. It was not yet clear how such an option would work if the future Ukrainian military remained hostile to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday the country had realized that it would not be able to join NATO, a sore point for Moscow.
(With inputs from agencies)
