Russia dismisses reports of Italian peace plan as armchair theorizing

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Italy's peace settlement plan for Ukraine an example of armchair theorizing those who think Russia will grasp any Western proposal for a peace settlement don't understand anything about the current situation in Ukraine, according to reports of an Italian plan to end the fighting.

The existence of the proposal was revealed last week by La Repubblica about Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. A ceasefire, the demilitarization of the frontline in Ukraine, a diplomatic settlement of the status of Crimea and the Donbass republics, and an overarching agreement on security in Europe are reportedly included in the four-step roadmap to peace.

During a press conference, Zakharova said it is impossible to believe that Moscow has not received any proposals from Rome.

She could only talk about the media reports about the plan.

She said the proposals seem so divorced from reality that it is hard to take them seriously. It is a curious idea that Moscow could be interested in peace initiatives that prioritize the logic of tighter sanctions against the Russian Federation and continuing military support for the Kiev regime. She said it is impossible to supply neo-Nazis in Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans to save the situation with the other hand, and that the reported proposals are an example of armchair theorizing. The alleged Italian proposals, Zakharova claimed, show a lack of understanding of the real events in Ukraine. They assume that the Russian side will grab any Western proposal, no matter how absurd it may be. She added that they don't understand anything about the current situation in this case.

She noted that Rome could be beginning to think about the depressing consequences of the military psychosis that was caused by the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine, and that the proposed plan could be an attempt to offer some alternatives to the current military conflict between Russia and NATO. After many days of pure PR in the media space, Zakharova said Russia will respond to Italy's proposals if they are sent to Moscow. She said one day after the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said the peace proposal should be ignored in the interests of NATO and the Western world order. Medvedev said that their authors should be told to go in a certain direction.

The Italian government has shared its proposals with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Western powers, according to La Repubblica.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Italy had shared its vision with Kiev and that the government was studying it. Ukraine reiterated that it would not agree to any settlement that does not respect its pre-2014 borders, casting doubt on the viability of the plan.

Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The German and French protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc.

Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to take the two republics by force.