Speaking at a video-conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported that the Ukrainian delegation with which Russia has been negotiating has ditched a draft document presented during talks in Istanbul on March 29, and replaced it with a substantially different one, presented yesterday, that eliminates previous commitments, Sputnik International reported. He explained that on March 29 in Istanbul, Ukrainian negotiators presented a “clearly articulated” proposal for a “neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear” status; but the draft document presented yesterday “showed a clear departure from key provisions that were committed to” in Istanbul. Moreover, Lavrov said, the original document with these provisions was signed by David Arakhamia, the head of the Ukrainian delegation.
Lavrov also elaborated, that while the March 29 document agreed that security guarantees would not apply to Crimea and Sevastopol, the new document makes no mention of this, and “instead offers vague formulations about some kind of `effective control’ as `of Feb. 23,’” the day before Russian forces entered Ukraine. In addition, the Ukrainian side is now saying that the issue of Crimea and Donbas can only be dealt with at the presidential level. Lavrov said he expects the Ukrainians to now add a whole new series of conditions which are unacceptable. He added that Russia had earlier responded to small signs of realism from Kiev by withdrawing troops from Kiev and Chernigov, but in response got the “provocations in Bucha,” the announcement of new sanctions from the West, and the atrocities committed against Russian POWs by the Ukrainian neo-Nazis.
