Russia will halt military operations in Ukraine if… – Peskov

Russia has agreed to halt its military operations within the Ukrainian territory if the Ukrainian government agrees to alter its constitution, by ceding its quest to join “any bloc” and recognise the Crimean referendum and the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

The Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed this on Monday, AFP reported.

“They (Ukrainian authorities) should make amendments to their Constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc,’’ Peskov said.

“We have also spoken about how they should recognise that Crimea is a Russian territory and that they need to recognise that Donetsk and Luhansk are independent states.

“And that’s it. Then, Russia’s military operations will stop in a moment,” he surmised.

On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the DPR and LPR in countering the aggression of Ukrainian troops.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation was targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population was not in danger.

Earlier on Monday, a Ukrainian delegation had arrived in Belarus for talks with representatives from Russia for a third round of talks on the conflict in Ukraine.