Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the difficulty of continuing negotiations with the United States and NATO on security guarantees, in their previous form, considering that “the situation has fundamentally changed.”
Yesterday, Peskov pointed out that the negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are continuing, via video link, noting that the work is “complicated and difficult, and the mere continuation of it is a positive thing.”
Peskov stressed that the situation has changed, and that “talks themselves are required,” alluding to “new priorities, which must be taken into account in the future,” referring to the file of security guarantees in Europe.
Peskov expressed his disappointment over the silence of European leaders and the United States of America about the bombing of the city center of Donetsk by Ukrainian extremists, explaining that “European leaders, colleague Jean Psaki and its US President Joe Biden, all leaders of international organizations and the NATO leadership remained silent about this operation.”
Days after its classification of the list of countries and foreign governments hostile to Russian interests, Moscow announced the imposition of personal sanctions on a number of Western politicians, including US President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a number of others. Canadian officials, most notably the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the decision to impose sanctions on US and Canadian officials came “in response to the imposition of new sanctions by the Canadian official authorities, which compete with the United States on Russian-phobia, that include senior Russian leaders and almost all Russian representatives.”
In turn, the Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Peter Tolstoy, announced his country’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe, blaming NATO countries for undermining the dialogue with the Council.
Tolstoy explained: “The decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe was taken, and a letter from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was delivered to the organization’s Secretary-General.”
He added, “NATO countries bear the responsibility of undermining the dialogue with the Council of Europe, which throughout all this period has used the issue of human rights to implement their geopolitical interests and attack our country,” stressing that “Russia does not plan to pay the annual contribution to this organization.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, declared that “it is possible to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine after implementing Russian demands, including the disarmament of Ukraine and the elimination of Nazism.”
Nebenzia told reporters that “the special operation will end when it achieves its goals,” stressing that “the goal of Ukraine’s accession to NATO is found in the Ukrainian constitution and must be removed from there first and foremost.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the control of its forces over the entire Kherson province in the south of the country, noting the destruction of 136 Ukrainian military facilities, including command sites, communication centers and missile systems, during the past hours.
The ministry announced an attack on a Ukrainian military airport near the city of Kramatorsk, which resulted in the destruction of 4 Su-25 fighter-bombers, a Mi-24 helicopter and 5 Mi-8 helicopters.
The ministry pointed out that the Russian forces managed to destroy a total of 156 drones, 1,306 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 127 rocket launchers, 471 pieces of field artillery and mortars, in addition to 1,054 pieces of special military vehicles, since the start of the military operation in Ukraine. .