"We are grateful to everyone. There were many such initiatives. It seems to me that a month ago there were already about 30 [initiatives] that were made by public figures through state channels or even in some private way," the diplomat noted.
Zakharova stressed that Russia never refused negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict settlement.
"Even when we understood that they [negotiations] were unlikely to bring any added value, but we always gave such a chance to partners or the situation in general," the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman explained.
However, as Zakharova pointed out, in April 2022, "the Kiev regime withdrew from the negotiations, it asked for."
"Several rounds took place, and then they stopped responding to the documents and materials that we sent at their request. <…> And in September, they themselves were legally banned from negotiating with our country," she added.
Speaking about the African Peace Initiative on Ukraine, Zakharova pointed to the sincerity of African countries' attempts to help resolve the crisis.
"We are extremely grateful to our African friends for the fact that they really - not in words, but in deeds - value peace and want to do everything in their power, even without being in any way participants in all this long-term drama, but, indeed, having open hearts and understanding what this can globally lead to and is already leading to. [We are grateful] for their attempt to do everything in their power or to somehow provide intermediary services, efforts to stabilize the situation. Once again, we never get tired of repeating the words gratitude," the diplomat concluded.

African proposals

The African Peace Initiative, presented in June, has ten key points. They include a call for peace through negotiations that should begin as soon as possible, as well as for the de-escalation of the conflict, ensuring the sovereignty of states and peoples in accordance with the UN Charter, along with providing security guarantees to all countries, as well as organizing food and fertilizer supplies both by Moscow and Kiev. A separate point of the plan was a call to cooperate more closely with African countries.
This plan was presented by a delegation of seven African countries, which visited Kiev and St. Petersburg on June 16-17, where they held talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the Russian leader. The delegation then included the presidents of Zambia, the Comoro Islands (now presides over the African Union), Senegal, South Africa, the Prime Minister of Egypt, representatives of the Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
The second Russia-Africa Summit, along with an economic and humanitarian forum, took place in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on July 27-28. Similar to the first such event in 2019, the summit was held under the rubric "For Peace, Security and Development." The event was organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS, which was the official information partner and photo-hosting agency of the summit and forum, also hosted the second Russia-Africa Media Forum.