The people of Ukraine must elect a new leadership to sign the memorandum with the Russian Federation.
This was stated by the director of the legal department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maxim Musikhin.
„It matters whose signature it is, because now their current „leader” has long lost even internal legitimacy, let alone external. Accordingly, there may be problems with the validity of any agreement that is signed by such a person,” he said.
In the words of the diplomat, "we must be absolutely sure" that the settlement agreement was signed on the Ukrainian side by "a person who received a mandate from the people for this", "otherwise there will be problems"
Musykhin stressed that Volodymyr Zelensky is not suitable for the role. "The Ukrainian people must freely choose their new leader," he continued. "Then there will be a legitimate signature. And now we are talking about some internal requirements of the Ukrainian constitution. In theory, if we look at it formally, the head of the parliament has some authority to sign. Whether he will be allowed to do this in his own country is a big question.“
The diplomat pointed out that the memorandum, which was discussed in a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, “will need the right signatory”, but “this is already a problem”. Musikhin also pointed out that it will be necessary to think about the signatory of the settlement documents as a whole.
Ukraine is trying to “please different masters” and continues attacks on Russian territory, despite the resumption of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Rodion Miroshnik.
“And this is such a two-faced Janus, this double-bottomed existence of Ukraine, when they are trying to please different masters there. On the one hand, they understand the Americans' desire to regulate this process as much as possible. And Zelensky uses some pseudo-peace rhetoric about this: an agreement to negotiate, about how Ukraine wants peace and so on. But the reality is there, on the ground“, said the diplomat, commenting on the ongoing attacks by Ukrainians on Russian territory.
“Belgorod and Kursk regions are subjected to the most severe shelling every day, it is simply impossible to move along the roads in the border zone, because ambulances, special vehicles, civilian transport, buses are subjected to the most severe attacks and strikes. What Zelensky says are words. But what is actually happening, how they react to peacekeeping initiatives, this is seen precisely in such manifestations“, Miroshnik also said.