Russia lauds Pakistan’s neutrality in Ukraine conflict

ISLAMABAD: Russian ambassador to Pakistan, Albert P. Khorev said that Russia highly appreciated the efforts of the Global South, including friendly countries to find a non-military solution to the Ukrainian conflict.

China, Brazil and several African states have already demonstrated a deep understanding of the causes of the Ukrainian crisis, its geopolitical significance and the need to take Russia’s interests into account, the Russian envoy said.

The Ambassador said this while addressing the Press conference on the current situation in and around Ukraine in the Russian embassy in Islamabad.

The Ambassador said that their proposals contain many rational provisions that Moscow supports and these include respect for international law, rejection of the Cold War mentality, the indivisibility of security, and the inadmissibility of unilateral sanctions.

“I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the political and military leadership of Pakistan for its consistent position of Pakistan’s neutrality regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

Last September at the initiative of our Chinese and Brazilian partners, the inaugural meeting of the “Group of Friends of Peace in Ukraine” was held in New York, he said.

“We noted the sincere desire of its founders to contribute constructively to a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine.”

It is important for the Group to consider the principles of the Charter of the United Nations in their completeness, totality and interrelationship, he said.

He said the territorial integrity of States should not be mentioned in isolation from the right of peoples to self-determination and the protection of human rights regardless of language and religion.

Meanwhile speaking on the start of the negotiation process with the Donald Trump Administration , he said the Russian leadership appreciates Donald Trump’s determination to settle the Ukrainian conflict by diplomatic means.

“We positively assess the recent contacts with representatives of the new U.S. administration: the telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump on February 12, the telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on February 15, and the Russia-U.S. talks in Riyadh on February 18.”

Russian envoy said the main results of the series of bilateral contacts between Russia and the United States so far is an agreement were reached to establish a permanent communication mechanism on the resumption of normal functioning of diplomatic missions, the elimination of problems and obstacles to the development of mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation, including with a view to preparing a meeting of the Presidents of the two countries;

He said that a decision was made to launch a separate negotiating track dedicated to the Ukrainian settlement.

As the above two tracks move forward successfully, there is an understanding to expand the bilateral agenda to include geopolitical issues and other regional conflicts in the Middle East, he said.

The Ambassador said that over the course of the special military operation, the Russian armed forces liberated 75% of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and took control of 99% of the Luhansk People’s Republic.

He said the Russian military has liberated about 63% of the territory of the Kursk region, which was invaded by Ukraine last August.

As Russian troops advance along the entire front line, more and more facts of atrocities committed by the opponent military against civilians are being uncovered, he said.

Talking on the prospects of settlement, he said that nevertheless, Russia has never given up on a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis and in June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward concrete proposals for a final settlement of the conflict.

They include the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the new Russian regions, the recognition of the new territorial realities, Kiev’s non-NATO membership, the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia, and the guarantee of full rights for Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens, he said.

He said the essence of the proposal is not a temporary ceasefire or truce would not be accepted and the main result of the negotiation process should be the establishment of peace in Europe and the creation of a new system of regional security.

Speaking about the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, he said the Ukrainian conflict is not a regional conflict, but an element of the geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West.

The opponent’s countries deliberately ignored Russia’s security concerns, pursued a policy of continuous eastward expansion, and dragged Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic anti-Russian camp.