Kremlin Denies Reports Claiming Russia Ready to Agree to Ukraine's Non-Neutral Status
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Media reports that Russia is allegedly ready to agree to Kiev's non-neutral status and change its position on Ukraine joining NATO are not true, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"It is completely not true," Peskov told reporters.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Russia was allegedly signaling to the United States via indirect channels that it was open to talks on the future settlement of the Ukraine conflict, including possible security arrangements for Kiev, and was testing the waters to see if Washington was interested in engaging.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was reportedly willing to back down from his condition of neutral status for Ukraine and even eventually abandon opposition to its future NATO membership if Kiev agreed to recognize Crimea as well as the four breakaway republics as Russian territory.
There is no decisive condemnation of the downing of the Russian Il-76 military plane transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war for an exchange from Western countries, but the situation requires a proper assessment from the world community, Peskov said.
"There is still no decisive condemnation from Western countries of this horrific terrorist act, the horrific destruction of the plane that was transporting our people, first of all, after all, there were our pilots and our accompanying people, that is, the Russians died, but also a lot of people died. A large number of Ukrainian prisoners of war died. We have not heard a word of condemnation ... Therefore, of course, what happened requires a proper assessment by the world community," Peskov told reporters.
When asked if Russia plans to provide evidence of Kiev’s guilt in the incident, the official said that decisions will be made as all information is received.
Moscow will carefully examine Germany's intentions to develop a defense plan to contain Russia, Kremlin spokesman said.
"We need to see what kind of plan it will be. It is no secret that Germany has embarked on a path of decisive confrontation with Russia. In this regard, there is no novelty here. But, of course, taking into account this well-known attitude of Berlin, we will need to carefully familiarize ourselves with such plans," Peskov told reporters.
Earlier this week, media reported that Germany is developing a new comprehensive defense plan implying the "containment" of Russia.
