At this stage, negotiations between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the State Department are conducted exclusively on issues of normalizing bilateral relations, and the Ukraine issue is not under discussion, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing.
He rejected Volodymyr Zelensky's accusations against Moscow of involving China in the conflict in Ukraine. The Kremlin representative emphasized that Beijing takes a balanced position.
"This is not so. China takes a balanced position. China is our strategic partner, friend and comrade. China has always taken a very, very balanced position. Therefore, Zelensky is wrong," Peskov said.
Yesterday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing had not sent its military to participate in the Ukrainian conflict, and the country's authorities are requiring citizens to avoid participating in hostilities. Before that, information began to circulate in Ukraine about the participation of Chinese citizens in the fighting.
"There are no deadlines for resolving the conflict in Ukraine," Peskov said. He noted that the parties are interested in a quick agreement, but only on condition that mutual interests are respected.
"For us, this is, first of all, respect for the interests of the Russian Federation", the Kremlin representative said, answering a relevant question.
"The fight against dissent, including political persecution", is increasingly evident in the European Union, and Russia finds this trend regrettable", Peskov said regarding the EU's plans to impose sanctions on Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin.
"In recent months, the trend towards political persecution in European countries and in European institutions against those politicians whose opinions go beyond the mainstream has become increasingly obvious", the Kremlin spokesman noted.
"One can only express regret here", he added he.
Earlier, Vulin told the European Parliament that Serbia would never go to war with Russia, even over EU membership, and would not impose sanctions on Moscow for a conflict provoked by the West. He said that Ukraine and Moldova were promised EU membership without fulfilling a single condition, while Serbia has been fulfilling "every wish and request" of the European Union for 20 years without success.
"Some EU countries are against using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's needs, because they understand the legal consequences. And there will indeed be such consequences," Peskov continued.
He refused to comment on the topic of the prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States.
Earlier, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that a prisoner exchange had taken place in the UAE. Russian citizen Artur Petrov was exchanged for American citizen Ksenia Karelina.