Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with German Chancellor Schulz regarding the humanitarian situation and the current situation in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that his country is interested in conducting new negotiations with Ukraine “as soon as possible,” noting that this depends on Kyiv’s readiness.
“We are interested in conducting new rounds of contacts when the Ukrainian negotiators are ready for this,” Peskov added.
The Kremlin spokesman said that the United States “declared economic war on Russia,” noting that “the situation in the energy markets is very volatile, and we do not know how far it will go.”
The Kremlin also expressed concern regarding Poland’s placing of MiG-29 fighters at Washington’s disposal for use in Ukraine.
For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova revealed yesterday an upcoming meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, within the framework of the latter’s participation in the Antalya Forum.
“The Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to go to Turkey today (yesterday),” Zakharova told Sputnik radio, adding that Lavrov is scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba in Antalya.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the forum will witness a number of bilateral meetings, including planning to meet with the foreign ministers of the two countries.
For his part, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the United States feared being accused of violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons, adding that Washington feared that “disease pathogens stored in Ukrainian biological laboratories will fall into the hands of the Russians.”
On the economic front, the Secretary of the General Council of the ruling party in Russia Andrei Torchak suggested the nationalization of factories owned by foreign companies, which stopped production in the country following the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Torchak stressed that “stopping companies from operating is a war once morest the citizens of Russia,” noting that his country will take strict retaliatory measures, in line with the laws of war.
On the ground, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of more than 2,700 military facilities, since the start of the military operation in Ukraine, revealing documents showing the preparation of pro-Kyiv forces for provocations in Kharkov.
