Russia will not halt its military operation in Ukraine for subsequent rounds of peace talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
Russian officials say peace talks with Ukraine are not progressing as quickly as they would like and have accused the West of trying to derail the talks by bringing charges of war crimes against Russian troops in Ukraine, which Moscow denies.
In an interview with Russian state television, Lavrov said he saw no reason not to continue negotiations with Ukraine, but insisted Moscow would not stop its military operation when the sides met again.
Lavrov said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a halt to military action during the first round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in late February, but that Moscow’s stance has since changed.
“After we became convinced that the Ukrainians were not planning to reciprocate, the decision was made that during the next rounds of negotiations there will be no pause (in military action) until a final agreement is reached,” Lavrov said.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a special operation to degrade the neighboring country’s military capabilities and eradicate people Moscow calls dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces mounted strong resistance and the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
Source: CNN Brasil
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