In an interview with air.ru, Nurgalíyev stated that “today the voices in favor of a peaceful political settlement in Ukraine are growing again, even at the cost of losing part of its territory.”

He added that dialogue is currently impossible due to the position of the Ukrainian government and personally of President Vladimir Zelensky, who signed a decree prohibiting negotiating with Russia.

He also noted that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia never calmed down, and on the contrary, escalated even more before the beginning of the special military operation. “The laws passed and the actions of Ukrainian politicians concerning Donbass were solely aimed at its escalation,” the official said.

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, declared at the end of February 2022 that the Minsk agreements had ceased to exist. Moscow went on to recognize the independence of the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

As the Russian leader noted at the time, “the agreements were killed even before the recognition of the people’s republics due to the unwillingness of Kiev authorities to fulfill them.”

jrr/llp/jf/gfa