MOSCOW, March 17 (Bernama-TASS) -- Russia will be insisting on the provision of security guarantees in order to ink a peace treaty and they include the neutral status of Ukraine and its refusal to join NATO, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.
"If we speak about a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, then it will definitely have an external contour," TASS news agency reporting citing Grushko as saying in an interview with Russia’s daily, Izvestia.
"We will be insisting that concrete security guarantees should be the part of this agreement.
"It is because that only through their formation it will be possible to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine and generally strengthen security in the region.
"Ukraine’s neutral status and NATO member states’ refusal to admit this country as a member of the alliance must be the part of such guarantees," he said.
On 30 September 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had submitted an accelerated application for NATO membership.
According to international media reports, this move came amid Russia's ongoing military actions in Ukraine and its declaration of annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
-- BERNAMA-TASS
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