Progress in talks with Russia impossible until it abandons aggressive rhetoric - Podoliak
Progress in political and diplomatic negotiations with Russia is impossible, as Russia has returned to its extremely aggressive initial rhetoric, which it uses in the domestic market, Mykhailo Podoliak, the adviser to the head of the President's Office, said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
"They have returned to the original aggressive rhetoric that they use in the domestic market, to talk about the war in the tone that they are allegedly right anyway: what is happening in Ukraine is staged, enemies are everywhere, NATO is everywhere. And they don't care how it looks from side ... This is an absurdity. They stopped perceiving the world as it is. There was a rollback," he said.
At the same time, the adviser recalled that during a meeting in Istanbul on March 29, the parties to the negotiations reached certain formulaic solutions.
"Irrelevant issues built on Russia's propaganda ideas about Ukraine were cut off ... The Istanbul Communiqué fixed an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine, which suggested the possibility of signing a multilateral agreement with guarantor countries," he said.
"We realized that the Russian Federation at some point begins to understand the need to withdraw from the war - no longer on ultimatum demands, but using objective agreements. But the world saw the history of Kyiv region, the history of Bucha. There was a severe emotional breakdown, both in Ukraine and in the world," Podoliak said.
After that, according to him, there was a significant change in the perception of Russia in the world.
"It is impossible to imagine that after that it is still trying to call itself a part of human civilization and strive to sit down at the negotiating table," he said.
At the same time, the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office did not rule out that the parties could return to discussing the provisions of the Istanbul Communiqué.
"Any negotiation process can be prolonged. This is a matter of decision by our military-political leadership. When they consider that we can return to the concept of the Istanbul Communiqué, they will say: sit down, discuss, make changes, taking into account situational circumstances," Podoliak said.
