Kremlin speaks about NATO's possible interference in Ukrainian crisis

Russia will react negatively if a NATO member tries to intervene in the situation in Ukraine, Dmitry Peskov, an official representative for the Kremlin said, TASS reports.

According to him, Russian President Putin spoke clearly about it in his address to Russian citizens and the whole world.

"It's enough to just re-read the speech, especially the part where he spoke about a possibility for someone to intervene in the course of the special military operation from outside,” Peskov said answering the question about a possibility of a peacekeeping operation on the territory of Ukraine, which could be held bypassing the decision of the UN Security Council.

On March 21, it was reported that US President Joe Biden would discuss the crisis in Ukraine with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as with Italian and British Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Boris Johnson. The discussion will be held via telephone. It is assumed that the leaders will discuss coordinated response to Russia's special operation in Ukraine.

Below is a brief outline of Peskov's most recent press briefing:

About the course of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine:

The degree of progress in the negotiations is not as desired. It is not as required by the dynamics of the development of the situation for the Ukrainian side either. Russia demonstrates a much greater willingness to work quickly and meaningfully than Ukraine's negotiators do.

About a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky:

In order to talk about a meeting of the two presidents, one needs to first agree on the results of the negotiations. So far, the presidents simply have nothing to proceed from as no agreements have been achieved yet.

About a possibility for EU to ban imports of Russian oil:

They discuss the oil embargo. This is a very complicated topic, because such an embargo will have a significant impact on the world oil market, and it will have a very negative impact on the energy balance on the European continent. The Americans will obviously keep their own supplies, and the situation in the USA will be better than in Europe. For Europe, it will be hard.

About the organization of humanitarian corridors:

"All statements saying that no one is being released via humanitarian corridors are nothing but lies. There are humanitarian corridors, our military take measures to ensure they work, but people don't use them to evacuate. It is those nationalists that don't let them out. It would be reasonable to put pressure on the Kiev authorities so that they try to influence the national units so that they do not hide behind living people. Unless, of course, the official Kiev has at least some power over them.