Russia sees no point in Kiev’s ‘peace summits,’ won’t participate in them — top senator

DUSHANBE, October 10. /TASS/. Russia does not take part in the so-called peace summits organized by Ukraine because they are useless, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters.
“And what is the point of these summits? The first one failed miserably, the second one planned by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky would have been just as empty and worthless. It could lead to nothing positive. It is not about peace, it is not about negotiations, it is not about ending the confrontation,” Matviyenko pointed out.
“We are absolutely not interested in whether there will be a summit or not. We do not take part in such meetings because we do not see any point in them,” she added.
Earlier, Zelensky said that by November Ukraine expects to prepare a document to be presented at a new conference on conflict resolution, but did not specify when the conference would be held. Earlier, the Ukrainian president’s office said it would not be possible to convene it in November.
Kiev has repeatedly rejected peace and mediation initiatives from third countries, saying it will only promote the so-called Zelensky formula. In late September, before leaving for the United States, Zelensky said he had some kind of “plan” to increase pressure on Russia, which he would first show to US leader Joe Biden. Later, Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Andrey Yermak clarified that the “plan” would be shown to the country’s citizens only after it had been presented to Kiev’s Western partners, while certain sensitive elements would remain closed to the country’s population.
On June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the Foreign Ministry set out the country’s conditions for settling the situation in Ukraine. Among them are the withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces from Donbass and Novorossiya and Kiev’s refusal to join NATO. In addition, Russia wants all Western sanctions against it lifted and demands that Ukraine commit to a non-aligned and nuclear-free status. Putin indicated that if Ukraine and the West refuse these conditions, they could change in the future. Kiev rejected the Russian peace plan. After the massive Ukrainian attack on the Kursk Region that began on August 6, the Russian leader said that negotiations with a government that attacks civilians are pointless.