Admitting the necessity of direct talks between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the talks require some preparatory works.
Sergey Lavrov came up with the statement after talks with Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba in Turkey’s Antalya on Thursday, according to a state-controlled television network of Russia, RT.
“We’ve confirmed today that President Putin isn’t rejecting the idea of a meeting with President Zelensky,” Lavrov said.
He said he reminded his Ukrainian counterpart that Putin and Russia are “always ready to meet if we can achieve some added value and solve the problem.”
“However, Moscow sees no usefulness in a meeting simply for the sake of meeting,” the minister pointed out.
“Possibly at some point, such necessity will hopefully arise,” Lavrov said of the possible talks between Putin and Zelensky. “But for this to happen preparatory work must be done along the Belarusian track.”
The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv have already held three rounds of talks in Minsk in Belarus since the start of the conflict on February 24. However, they haven’t delivered any significant results yet.
“Our very specific proposals were heard out by the Ukrainian side, and they promised that there would be very specific answers. We’re waiting,” the foreign minister said.