Lavrov announced his unwillingness to "play cat and mouse" with Ukraine

Russia is alarmed by Kyiv's desire to hold a referendum on the results of agreements with Moscow. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reports TASS.

“We are alarmed that the Ukrainian side has decided to demand that if a treaty is signed, all hostilities should be stopped within a few days, the Russian armed forces should leave Ukraine, and after that there will be a referendum, ratification in parliament,” Lavrov said.

According to him, there is a high probability that the ratification and the referendum will give a negative result and the negotiation process will have to start anew. “We don’t want to play such cat and mouse,” the diplomat added.

The idea to hold a referendum on reaching compromises between Russia and Ukraine was put forward by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Suspilne. He explained this by saying that potential agreements would require changes in Ukrainian legislation, including the country's Constitution. “I explained to all negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes, and they can be historical, we will not go anywhere, we will come to a referendum. The people will have to say and give an answer about certain formats of compromises. But what they will be is already a matter of our conversation and understanding between Ukraine and Russia,” Zelensky said.