Russia Insists on Kiev to Repeal Discriminatory Laws in Ukraine

Moscow will insist that Kiev abolish all discriminatory laws in Ukraine at a new round of direct talks to be announced soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an international meeting of high representatives in charge of security issues, TASS informs.

Sergey Lavrov recalled that on May 16, Istanbul hosted the first round of direct talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict. "When these talks resumed in Istanbul on May 16, we demanded that all those discriminatory laws be abolished and we will continue to do so at the next round of direct talks, to be announced soon," Russia’s foreign minister said.

He noted that peace talks are better than war, but the root causes of the conflict must be addressed for a successful conclusion.

According to Sergey Lavrov, the policy of dragging Ukraine into NATO and the alliance's long-standing expansion to the east despite the assurances that the bloc would not expand have become the trigger of the conflict. "It [the root cause of the Ukrainian conflict. - Editor's note] concerns the line on dragging Ukraine into NATO. I have already said many times that the trigger of the conflict in Ukraine and, more broadly, of the deep security crisis in Europe was precisely the aggressive long-term expansion of NATO to the east, which was carried out in spite of the assurances given to the leadership of the USSR and then Russia, the sworn assurances of both Americans and Europeans that NATO expansion would not take place," the minister added.

As Sergey Lavrov emphasized, for many years before the special military operation and after its launch, Russia has been offering and still offers the Ukrainian side to resolve all problems through dialogue and diplomacy.

The Russian Foreign Minister also expressed gratitude to the governments of the countries that provided their services for the resumption of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian sides without preconditions.