MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. Ukraine's actions do not demonstrate a sincere commitment to peace or genuine negotiations; NATO and Western elites may benefit from extending the Russia-Ukraine conflict to justify military spending and avoid concessions; Iran accuses the IAEA of leaking classified nuclear data to Israel. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Ukraine’s actions do not reflect a real desire for peace or for conducting genuine negotiations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Izvestia. In particular, Kiev continues to carry out sabotage operations on Russian territory. Moreover, the agreements reached in Istanbul are not being fully implemented. For several days now, trailers carrying the frozen bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers have been waiting at the border — Kiev is in no hurry to collect them. At the same time, two prisoner exchanges have successfully taken place, with Belarus serving as mediator.
"What kind of willingness for dialogue can there be if all efforts are being made to avoid a substantive conversation and create obstacles?" Grushko told the newspaper. "There’s no other way to characterize the terrorist attacks that were carried out two days before the start of negotiations. On top of that, the actions of the Kiev regime in the international arena — their endless demands that the West provide ever-increasing military support and ever more long-range advanced weapons — obviously do not reflect a real commitment to peace or honest dialogue," he added.
