Rutte believes that Russia did not take advantage of the opportunity provided by Zelensky
Russia sent a low-level delegation to Turkey for talks and did not take advantage of the opportunity provided by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a peaceful settlement. This opinion was expressed by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking on the sidelines of an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, Turkey, reports Anadolu.
"Ukraine is clearly ready to play the ball, but this ball is now on Russia's field," Rutte said, speaking about the peace process.
"The Russians are now sending a low-level delegation and are not taking advantage of the opportunity provided by President Zelensky," the NATO Secretary General continued .
He recalled that the Ukrainian president had declared his readiness to negotiate with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin after the ceasefire.
Rutte reiterated that any future agreement on Ukraine must be reliable and durable, learning from the failures of past agreements.
"It [the agreement] has to be strong. It must be durable. We cannot allow a repeat of what happened in 2014-2015 with the Minsk agreement, which was essentially challenged when the ink was still dry," he said.
- On the evening of May 14, Putin approved the composition of the Russian delegation for talks on the Russian-Ukrainian war in Turkey. He won't go to Istanbul himself.
- Britain notes that Russia sent "low-level" representatives to Turkey for talks.
- At the same time, Zelenskyy called the level of the Russian delegation in Turkey "sham".
