St. Petersburg, 19 June 2023 (TDI): The African delegation arrived in Saint Petersburg yesterday (Sunday) after their visit to Ukraine on Saturday.
The delegation has consisted of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Comoros’ President Azali Assoumani, and senior representatives from Uganda, Congo, and Egypt.
The delegation started their peace mission from Ukraine and arrived in Russia to meet the Russian president to negotiate a peace talk.
Also see: African Peace Mission in Ukraine
The African delegation or President Putin did not attend any press conference to announce the decision of their talks.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said that Russia is interested in peace talks, but the proposal by the African delegation is hard to implement.
Kremlin spokesman also said that President Putin made it clear to the delegation that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine as it was going to join NATO and that was a matter of national security.
His Excellency President Matamela @CyrilRamaphosa with other African Heads of State and Government meeting with HE President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation in the Marble Hall at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg, Russia, during the African Peace Initiative… pic.twitter.com/NzIpfeRc3S
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) June 17, 2023
China also presented its peace proposal at the end of February of this year, but Ukraine rejected the idea saying that Russia has no intent for a ceasefire.
Back To Stage One
While the delegation was discussing peace terms with Ukraine on Saturday, the Russian president announced that he placed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus as a deterrent to the Western powers.
President Putin said that if Russia feels threatened, then there is no doubt that Russia will use its nuclear weapons.
Russia and Ukraine both sides have different take on peace talks and there is little chance of the peace talks being successful.
While Russia demands Ukraine accept Crimea as part of Russia, and Ukraine demands that Russia removes its troops from all of the Ukrainian lands as an essential part of peace talks.
While the leaders are hoping for a better outcome, but the situation speaks otherwise.
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