Russia directly insists on the inclusion of Belarus as a participant in future agreements with Ukraine and one of the guarantor states, said director of the second department of the CIS of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexei Polishchuk.

“Moscow does not just allow Minsk to participate in the treaty. We directly insist on the inclusion of the Republic of Belarus as a participant in future agreements and one of the guarantor states. This will ensure a balance within the "club" of such countries," he said.

“Of course, all this was discussed with Belarusian friends, who, as I said, help the negotiations, provide their platform for them,” Polishchuk added.

Russian-Ukrainian negotiations have been underway since February 28, the Moscow delegation is headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky. Several meetings took place in Belarus, then the parties continued to communicate via video link. On March 29, a face-to-face round of negotiations took place in Istanbul. On April 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Kyiv, moving away from the agreements reached at the talks in Turkey, had sent the process into a deadlock.