The process of finding a settlement in Ukraine must take into account the opinion of 7 million Ukrainians who have found refuge in Russia. This opinion was expressed in an interview with the BBC by the first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky.
“The point of view of about 7 million Ukrainians who have found refuge in Russia since all this began must also be taken into account“, the diplomat said.
Polyansky stressed that these Ukrainians “want to be recognized as Russian-speaking, want to preserve their faith in the canonical Orthodox Church, do not want oppression by the Zelensky regime“. “This is also their choice and it must be respected“, he noted.
Russia agrees that any future peace agreement for Ukraine must provide security guarantees for Kiev, but Moscow also needs reliable guarantees for its security, said Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, quoted by Reuters and BTA.
"Many leaders of European Union countries emphasize that the future peace agreement must provide reliable guarantees for Ukraine's security. Russia agrees with this. However, it has every right to count on receiving effective guarantees for its security," the Russian diplomat said.
According to him, the West is making a mistake by not discussing such a step with regard to Russia. Ulyanov noted that these guarantees must be "much more reliable than the notorious promises" for stopping NATO's expansion to the east.