Moscow: Russia, which has launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, offered an olive branch on Friday.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia is ready for talks if Ukraine lays down arms, AFP reported.
Even as Russian forces advanced on Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Lavrov said that Moscow did not want ‘neo-Nazis’ to govern Ukraine.
Russia, according to the minister, wants people of Ukrainian to be independent and be allowed to freely define their destiny.
Accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of lying, Lavrov said it was not possible for Russia to recognize the current Ukrainian government as democratic.
It only emphasizes the seriousness and hostile nature of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade the eastern European country.
The Russian minister was referring to Zelensky’s assertion that he was ready to discuss neutral status of the former Soviet member.
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