David Arashamia, who is leading Ukraine’s negotiating group in peace talks with Russia, said on Saturday that a meeting of the presidents of Ukraine and Russia is likely to take place in Turkey.
According to Arashamiya, the Russian side emphasized that the draft peace agreement is so advanced that direct consultations can be held between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia, Yunyan news agency reported. – The date and place are not known, but we believe that it will be Istanbul or Ankara with a high degree of probability – he said via the Ukrainian Arashamya channel.
UNIAN quoted Arashamiya as saying that the two sides are close to an agreement but differ over Crimea. Russia accepted the Ukrainian project, but “only orally” and ruled out the issue of the occupied peninsula.
“The minimum we expect is guarantees from five countries.”
Any agreement on a security guarantee for Ukraine and its neutral status will be put to a referendum. – The Russian side agreed that the referendum would be the only way out of this situation – he said.
– We are now discussing the formula in which we reached a peace agreement with Russia, but security is guaranteed by other countries. Arashamiya said that Russia could not prevent this process.
As the Ukrainska Pravda website notes, Arashamija emphasized that Ukraine “cares about the guarantees of countries that possess nuclear weapons – France, the United States, Great Britain and China.” – The minimum we would expect are guarantees from five countries – to be able to say it is a good structure to protect Ukraine from aggression in the future – Quotes from Arachamiya Interfax-Ukraine
Main image source: PAP / EPA / MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / KREMLIN
