Russian Foreign Ministry names condition for talks on Ukraine

Russia is open to negotiations on Ukraine, provided that Western countries take a constructive and mature approach.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said this to TASS on the sidelines of the III Russian-Kazakh Media Forum.

"We are always ready for negotiations, we are open to a negotiated solution, we have proved this more than once: it was the other side, the Ukrainian one, that withdrew from the negotiations, it either withdrew from them or banned these negotiations for itself, it behaved, to put it very mildly, inconsistently," he said.

As the deputy minister noted, if in the West, "in the camp of Ukraine's sponsors, an understanding has matured of the need for an honest, constructive dialogue aimed at eliminating the well-known root causes of the conflict, then prospects for dialogue will probably emerge."

"And if not, if there is no such readiness on that side, and if there is no readiness to ensure that the Kyiv regime complies with what its Western sponsors agreed upon with us, then we will continue the special military operation, we will seek the elimination of the root causes of the conflict, we will defend our interests by military means, acting in a targeted and effective manner in order to minimize destruction and protect our people on both sides of the line of combat contact," Galuzin emphasized.