The main points of the the program of the visit of African leaders' peace mission to Kiev are ready, the visit to Russia is being finalized, South Africa's foreign minister Naledi Pandor said in a video published on social media by the country's government.
"We've got the outlines of the program already with respect to the Ukraine part of the visit and are finalizing the Russian part," she stated.
South African Foreign Ministry Director General Zane Dangor said that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the leaders of five other African countries will visit Moscow and Kyiv in early June as part of a peace initiative.
The founder of the Brazzaville Foundation and initiator of the mission, Jean-Yves Ollivier, previously told Sputnik that the main goal of the mission of the African countries in Ukraine is to initiate and assist in establishing a dialogue between the two countries, noting that negotiations through the mission of African countries will be held without preconditions, and the mission itself is the first of its kind that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky have agreed to accept.
Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for negotiations, but Kiev has imposed a ban on them at the legislative level. Zelensky earlier said at the G20 that "there will be no Minsk-3", referring to earlier treaties (Minsk-1 and Minsk-2) aimed at settling the Donbass crisis.
Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary of the President of Russia, told Sputnik that such words "absolutely confirm" Kiev's position on unwillingness to negotiate. The West constantly calls on Russia to negotiations, for which Moscow shows readiness, but at the same time, the West ignores Kiev's constant refusals to negotiate. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said in an interview with Sputnik that Moscow is ready to consider Kiev's proposals for a settlement, taking into account the proposals of the Russian side and the situation "on the ground", however, the Ukrainian regime is not interested in this.