President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky should not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin without the presence of a third party. This opinion was expressed by former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in an interview with Obozrevatel.
This is reported by "Gordon" media.
"A bilateral meeting will put us in a weak position, as Putin uses it to build a line of pressure on Ukraine. Therefore, I believe that this meeting should be held together with one of our partners. If it will be [US President Joe] Biden, that's fine. Maybe someone else from the Big Seven. For example, [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel or [French President Emmanuel] Macron. Or, for example, the president of the European Council [Charles] Michel. Then both the United States and the European Union will be there at the same time," Klimkin stressed.
He noted that there are currently no bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
"Why Is Putin avoiding a bilateral meeting? I believe that it is not meetings that benefit him at all, but pressure on Ukraine to play this game. He thinks he's playing cat and mouse. He says: come to me in Moscow, we will discuss bilateral relations, which in fact do not exist. He will discuss issues of the" Russian World", language issues, and religious issues. He will discuss water to the Crimea. This is his agenda. If this is a bilateral meeting, then by definition, we will appear in a weak position when discussing any issues. Even if we refuse to discuss these issues and try to promote our agenda," Klimkin said.