Lukashenka called on Ukraine for peace talks

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko called on the leadership of Ukraine to take measures to end the conflict in order to avoid the destruction of the country. He announced this on the sidelines of the CSTO summit in Yerevan, writes agency “BelTA”.

“Everything is in the hands of Ukraine. Not because I want to push this topic to Zelensky and Ukraine. Indeed, everything is now in the hands of Ukraine. <...> It is difficult, difficult, difficult, but it is necessary, if they want it, to recover. We need to stop, we need to stop this. Because further will be the complete destruction of Ukraine. This is not what Putin once said long before the operation, that this would threaten the loss of Ukraine’s statehood. This will be the destruction of Ukraine,” he said.

According to Lukashenka, relations can be restored in the shortest possible time. He stressed the need for peace talks. “Wherever you throw it, peace talks are everywhere. Peace, peace and once again peace,” he concluded.

Since the beginning of the special operation, Russia and Ukraine have held negotiations several times. The first three face-to-face meetings took place in Belarus in February-March, and the fourth round of the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue was held on March 29 in Istanbul. The process was later frozen as Ukraine withdrew from the negotiations.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly accused Kyiv of disrupting this process. On October 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States was also to blame for the termination of negotiations between the parties. On October 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin again announced that Kyiv was refusing any proposals for negotiations. Earlier, the Russian leader stressed that Moscow is always open to negotiations. He added that the process could be resumed if Kyiv “was ripe for this.” Putin noted that in this case, “the mediation efforts of all those who are interested in this” will be in demand.

On October 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a document refusing to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is its president. Lavrov later admitted that Zelensky might reconsider his decision to negotiate with Russia. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the position of the Ukrainian president will depend on his mood and “an order from Washington or London.” Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow can only wait for a change in Zelensky’s position or the arrival of a new head of state.

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