Russian consul general says Ukraine's legitimate representatives at talks important

Ukraine should be represented at the negotiations by a legitimate government to sign documents, the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lost his legitimacy in May 2024. Andrey Buravov, the Russian consul-general in Istanbul, said this on February 7.

"It is important that the future negotiation process <...> should be fully legitimate from the point of view of the parties involved and provide real guarantees for the implementation of the agreements reached," he told RIA Novosti.

According to him, in the case of participation of legitimate persons in the negotiations, no one will be able to claim later that the signatories of the agreement were not authorized to do so.

"And at the moment we have a situation when the head of state does not have such powers and, accordingly, there is a question of the legitimacy of this person," Buravov said.

The Russian consul general noted that Ukraine should find a way to cancel the document signed earlier by Zelensky on the ban on negotiations with Russia. For example, this can be done by the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Buravov emphasized.

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Earlier, on February 1, Zelensky said that he expects the start of negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict with the participation of Moscow, Kiev, Washington and Brussels. The Kremlin, in turn, said that the Russian Federation considers the Ukrainian leader's words as empty.

On February 2, Reuters reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump for several days continues to discuss ways to convince Ukraine to hold elections in the country within the framework of the truce with Russia.

Later, on February 5, political scientist and military analyst Vadim Mingalev told Izvestia that the Ukrainian president has shown willingness to engage in a dialog with Russia in order for the West to allow him to continue to be the head of state. According to him, Zelensky realizes that his power is under threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly reminded that Russia has never given up on peace talks, but they should be conducted on the basis of the provisions agreed in Istanbul, not on the basis of "ephemeral demands."

The last round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4, 2022, the Ukrainian president put into effect the decision of the country's National Security and Defense Council on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin.