Ryzhankou Offers Belarus as Venue for Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks at UN

Reform.news · 27 September 2026, 07:48

https://reform.news/en/ryzhankou-offers-belarus-as-venue-for-russia-ukraine-peace-talks-at-un/

Belarus is ready to facilitate efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine and once again serve as a venue for negotiations. Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhankou said this on September 26 during the General Debate of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“We have proven our ability to serve as a reliable venue for negotiations. We are ready to continue doing everything possible to achieve peace in Ukraine as soon as possible,” Ryzhankou said in a speech published on the website of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

The minister called for “the earliest possible start of real negotiations.” At the same time, he did not present a specific mediation proposal or specify the participants or format of a possible meeting. His speech referred to Belarus’s readiness to provide a venue for negotiations and facilitate the peace process.

Ryzhankou also outlined Minsk’s position on the conditions for a settlement. According to him, “any lasting peace” is impossible without addressing what the regime in Minsk considers the root causes of the war. The minister cited Ukraine’s plans to join NATO and the failure to implement the Minsk agreements among those causes.

“This includes the failure to implement the Minsk agreements, which were the only legitimate path to peace. Let me remind you that the implementation of these agreements was sabotaged in order to buy time and allow Ukraine to rearm, and all Western politicians admitted this quite recently,” Ryzhankou said, repeating Russian propaganda narratives.

He said that supplying weapons to Ukraine would lead to the country’s further destruction.

“The endless pumping of weapons into Ukraine leads only to the destruction of Ukraine itself and its people,” said the foreign minister of a country that provided its territory for the attack on Ukraine.

Ryzhankou devoted a significant part of his speech to criticizing the European Union and Western countries. He claimed that the EU does not seek peace in Ukraine and is interested in prolonging the conflict in order to weaken Russia.

Ryzhankou again expressed a desire to participate in efforts to find a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian war, primarily by providing a venue for negotiations. The minister did not report any agreements with Ukraine or Russia on this matter.

“We call for the earliest possible start of real negotiations that will lead to lasting peace,” the minister concluded.