Medinsky says talks with Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul are constructive
ISTANBUL. March 29 (Interfax) - The talks held by Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were constructive, Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky said as the talks' round ended.
"The talks with the Ukrainian side have just ended. The talks were constructive," Medinsky told reporters.
The Russian side has said they intend to take two steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky told reporters in Istanbul on Tuesday.
"We are also taking two steps to de-escalate the conflict," Medinsky said.
One of the steps concerns the military aspect, and the second - the political one, he said. "One of the positions on the military aspect will be announced by the deputy defense minister, and I will speak about the political aspect," the head of the delegation added.
According to Medinsky, Ukraine promises to refuse to join military alliances, while Russia does not object to its membership in the European Union.
"Ukraine refuses to join military unions, to deploy foreign military bases, contingents, or hold military exercises on Ukrainian territory without the consent of the guarantor states, including the Russian Federation," Medinsky told reporters.
"For its part, the Russian Federation does not object to Ukraine's aspirations to join the European Union," he said.
The planned agreements involve identifying the responsibilities of the guarantor states, "as Ukraine becomes a neutral, non-aligned state," he said.
Medinsky also said that Moscow has got Kyiv's proposal that Ukraine is given a permanently neutral status under international guarantees."We received written proposals from the Ukrainian delegation, which I understand have been agreed with Ukraine's leadership and boil down to this: Ukraine would be proclaimed a permanently neutral state under international guarantees for the purpose of realization of the non-aligned non-nuclear status," Medinsky said.
The proposals go on to list the "states which would guarantee security for Ukraine. These guarantees would not extend to Crimea and Sevastopol, which means Ukraine foregoing its ambition to reclaim Crimea and Sevastopol militarily," he said.
"The only way to make this possible is through negotiations as a result of diplomacy and so on. Of course, this is not in any way consistent with our position, but Ukraine has articulated its approach," Medinsky said.
In addition, the security guarantees would not extend "to that part of Ukraine it refers to as the separate districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Where these separate districts are, Ukraine formulates separately: the area of these separate districts, Russia, the way it understands it," he said.