Lukashenko: Russia was ready to sign peace deal with Ukraine

Russia was ready to sign an agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the participants of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk on 18 May, BelTA has learned.

“The Russian MPs were directly involved in this process from the very first day. We suggested negotiations. Let's talk and stop the war. We hosted three rounds of talks. Then Zelensky decided he wanted more air or something and moved the talks to Türkiye. No problem, let it be Türkiye. They put a draft agreement on the table. If Russia were to read it now, it would go crazy. It was absolutely disadvantageous for Russia. But Russia was willing to sign it then,” the president said.

“I have this draft on my desk. As soon as Russia agreed to the peace initiatives, to the agreement, they threw the draft into a bin. People may not know it. But the experts who were involved are aware of it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

"Instead of accusing us of confrontation, the expansion of this conflict, they'd better return to the negotiating table and start working on a new document, not the previous one [that was discussed during several rounds of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations at the initial stage]. The war must be stopped,” the Belarusian leader added.