 "Russia ready to hold talks once Ukrainian Army lays down arms: Lavrov")
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said that Moscow is ready for talks at "any moment" with Ukraine once the Ukrainian military respond positively to President Vladimir Putin's call, end their resistance and lay down their arms.
Lavrov made the remarks following talks with Deputy Foreign Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Sergey Peresada and Foreign Minister of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Vladislav Deinego, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties with leaders of DPR and LPR on February 21, recognising the two regions of Ukraine as independent.
We are ready to hold talks at any moment, once the Ukrainian Armed Forces respond to our president's call, end their resistance and lay down their arms. No one plans to attack and oppress them, let them return to their families, and let us give the Ukrainian people a chance to decide their future, Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency.
President Putin on Thursday launched a multi-pronged all-out attack on Ukraine, casting aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to "consequences they had never seen".
President Putin announced in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the head of the Donbas republic, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation to protect people who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.
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Putin said the Russian military operation aims to ensure a demilitarisation of Ukraine. Putin also urged Ukrainian servicemen to immediately put down arms and go home.
The US and its allies have decided to block assets of four large Russian banks, impose export controls and sanction oligarchs close to Putin after he ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine on Thursday.
Stressing that Russia had always called for negotiations, Lavrov said, "there is no shortage of talks but when talks are replaced with blatant sabotage, while Russia is accused of allegedly failing to implement the Minsk accords, it's effrontery, which is what some of our Western colleagues are famous for, but this time, it just went beyond all limits because it was accompanied by a continuous deterioration of the Russian-speaking population's situation in Ukraine.
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