Russia Rules Out Territorial Concessions in Possible Negotiations With Ukraine

Russian Senate President Valentina Matviyenko. Photo: X/ @kocovich

August 1, 2024 Hour: 10:30 am

‘We are open to negotiations if we have a guarantee that they will not be a new diversionary maneuver,’ Matviyenko said.

On Thursday, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian Senate, ruled out the possibility of her country making territorial concessions in the event of peace talks with Ukraine.

“Our Constitution prohibits any cession of territory of the Russian Federation… There cannot and will not be any territorial concessions in relation to these territories,” she said, referring to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions, which joined the Russian Federation in 2022.

Matviyenko indicated that Russia could participate in negotiations that take into account the situation on the ground, Russian national interests, and the achievement of the goals of the special military operation.

“We are open to negotiations if we have a guarantee that they will not be a new diversionary maneuver,” she said, adding that any eventual negotiation process should include guarantees that the agreements are fulfilled.

The same people that told you they were winning in Vietnam, that Saddam was about to attack you, that Afghanistan was a "Win" and that Biden was "Sharp as a tack"

Have told you Russia is the aggressor.
And that Ukraine is a democracy.

They are liars. pic.twitter.com/DtQ6pCMKP6
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) July 26, 2024

The Russian senator made this observation because Ukraine and its Western allies have a long history of failing to comply with agreements reached. This was the case, for example, with the Minsk Agreements of February 2015.

Matviyenko also stressed that Moscow does not know the exact content of the peace plan spoken of by former President Donald Trump, who assured that he will end the Ukrainian conflict as soon as he arrives at the White House.

Previously, in statements to French media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that the issue of the territorial integrity of his country cannot necessarily be resolved by means of weapons but that it is also possible to find solutions “through diplomatic means, if Russia so desires.”

“For that to happen, the Ukrainian people have to want it,” he said, adding that representatives of Russia must be present at the second “Peace Summit” to be held in November.