The withdrawal of Ukrainian military from the territories of four regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions) is necessary to achieve peace in Ukraine. This was announced in an interview with the French magazine Le Point by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, answering the question of whether the conflict in Ukraine will end in the fulfillment of this condition.
“If Ukraine withdraws its troops from these four regions, then yes,” said Peskov, whose words quoted TASS.
Peskov recalled that “completely transparent referendums were organized in the regions in which the population was able to express their position.”
Fortunately, Russia has already been able to guarantee the safety of those who live in four regions. Those who wanted to stay there remained, ”he said.
The Kremlin representative also indicated that the European leaders did not want to listen to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin about the infringement of Russian interests in the field of security, which is why relations with the West came to a dead end.
“We are trying to establish relations with the Americans, and, believe me, this is very difficult,” he said.
Peskov indicated that Ukraine should be a state with a neutral status.
“Neutral status is necessary for Ukraine and recognition of reality regarding the territories,” he said.
According to the Kremlin representative, “the security of some countries should not be ensured behind others.”
“If you want to guarantee the safety of Ukraine and involve it in NATO, you violate the safety of Russia,” he stressed.
At the same time, Peskov indicated that the resignation of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky is not a requirement of Russia.
“This is not one of our requirements. But even if the agreement were signed today with Zelensky, later people could appear in Ukraine who would legally question its legitimacy,” he said.
These doubts, according to Peskov, are “related to the military situation and some articles of the Ukrainian Constitution.”