Russia Braced for Ukraine’s Erratic Behavior at Talks, Diplomat Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia was ready for Ukraine’s inconsistent behavior during negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"From the office of a person who calls himself the Ukrainian president and has corresponding powers there was a request to hold talks, Russia did not reject this request. Then, as always, literally and metaphorically, a circus began by the Kiev regime: one minute they are coming, the next they aren’t, one minute they are up for participating, the next they aren’t. Was Moscow ready for this? Yes, of course," she said in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel.
She said that over the recent years, Kiev has taken the exact same approach to other negotiations. She noted that the fate of the Minsk deal is known, it wasn’t implemented.
"This is a classic arrangement which indicates that the regime is not independent, but controlled. And secondly, the talks are being used as a distracting move," she stated, TASS reported.
Due to this, according to the spokeswoman, Russia has already lost trust in the Ukrainian negotiators, so the situation is unfolding "on the ground.
"Now it’s not ‘trust and verify’ anymore, it's simply ‘verify’ because there hasn’t been any trust in these people for a long time."
