CIS Chief Lebedev calls for swift end to Ukraine conflict “Peace, not war, is humanity’s natural state”

Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Sergey Lebedev, has called for ending the conflict in Ukraine in the shortest possible time, while acknowledging the complexity of achieving this goal.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives of CIS member states, Lebedev said he closely follows the negotiations and remains confident in their eventual success, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“I do not doubt its resolution, of course, I am following [the negotiations],” he said.

Lebedev also added that “the state of war contradicts human nature; the normal state is a state of peace.”

“And we very much hope that we will all return—and the sooner, the better—to this state of peace between Russia and Ukraine,” the Secretary General emphasised.

“The deaths of thousands of people on both sides are unnatural and must end. I believe we will achieve this; it is a difficult goal and a challenging task. We will not reach this result quickly—as all experts say—but we are moving toward it. And these efforts, undertaken by the leaders of the Commonwealth countries, by the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the Republic of Belarus, and other leaders who have all supported these efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine—I very much hope and believe that we will achieve this goal, and the sooner, the better,” Lebedev said.

 By Khagan Isayev