Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to speak in the language of ultimatums and is not in the mood for serious, good-faith negotiations to end the war against Ukraine.
This opinion was expressed by the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Merezhko, on the air of FREEDOM TV.
He is convinced that now it is very important to strengthen Ukraine's negotiating positions.
„If we talk in general about any prospects for negotiations, it is very important to strengthen Ukraine's position. This depends, first of all, on providing Kiev with modern weapons in sufficient quantity and quality. Secondly, this is an intensification of the sanctions pressure on the aggressor state“, Merezhko said.
According to him, the US perfectly understands that there is still a huge potential for sanctions pressure on Russia. But the fact is that today Putin and Russia are absolutely not ready to hold serious negotiations, Merezhko believes.
„Putin continues to speak in the language of ultimatums and is not in the mood for serious, good-faith negotiations. Therefore, today I personally do not see serious prospects even for starting negotiations... based on the aggressive position that Russia is taking“, the Ukrainian representative emphasized.
Merezhko also expressed his opinion on which countries could be included in a possible negotiation process with Russia. „It seems to me that it would be appropriate to include in the negotiations those countries that can put real pressure on the Russian Federation and force it to hold serious negotiations. "First of all, these are, of course, the United States. Perhaps it makes more sense to talk about the European Union as a whole. [Also] Great Britain, which is not a member of the EU, but has a sufficiently powerful military and economic potential to put pressure on Russia," Merezhko said.