Zelensky Likely to Use Absurd Formulas to Create Impression of Seeking Peace With Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his entourage will come up with various "casuistic phrases" to create the illusion of striving for peace with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

The diplomat added that the peace formula being hatched by the Ukrainian president has nothing to do with peace, but includes only "force scenarios."

"I think they will come up with such casuistic phrases in order to pretend that they want peace amidst the lack of practical steps in that direction," Zakharova explained. "In other words, they will invent absurd, contradictory formulas. Zelensky's peace formula does not say anything about peace, it only mentions force scenarios and so on."

Zakharova also commented on the issue of foreign interference in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in particular on the UK's training of Ukrainian sabotage groups that were planning attacks on Russian territory. In this regard, the diplomat noted that Russia would issue a demarche to London through diplomatic channels.

"This time, of course, the appropriate, not just our arguments, but absolute rejection, censure and demand to stop such activities, will be brought to the UK capital," Zakharova said, adding that the Russian Foreign Ministry had previously conveyed to the UK both through open and diplomatic channels the "inadmissibility of engaging in such activities."

President Putin said earlier that the members of a sabotage group from Ukraine who intended to blow up a power line and were captured, admitted that they had been trained by instructors from the UK as if they were provoking Russia to strike Kiev's nuclear facilities.

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Russia-North Korea Ties

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also touched upon the ongoing visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Russia. She noted that the talks between the Korean leader and President Putin are important amid the ongoing geopolitical changes in the world, which include "the synergy shown by the G20", the expansion of BRICS, the processes of de-dollarization in the world and the transition to settlements in national currencies "as a way out of the endless crises created by the US."

"Of course, bilateral contacts are of great importance against this background. And the situation on the Korean Peninsula is certainly of crucial significance for security and stability in the region," Zakharova told Sputnik.

The diplomat added that bilateral cooperation between Moscow and North Korea, which was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, "is already being restored."

The North Korean leader is visiting Russia for the first time since 2019, and had time to hold talks with Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region.