Kremlin: Putin-Zelensky meeting possible only after agreement between the two sides

Peskov said that the continuation of negotiations with Ukraine will not be possible until the prisoner exchange agreed upon yesterday at the talks in Istanbul is implemented.

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Peskov, Photo: Reuters
Peskov, Photo: Reuters
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

A meeting between Russian and Ukrainian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, is "possible" only if Moscow and Kiev reach some "agreements" beforehand, a Kremlin spokesman said today, a day after the first direct peace talks between the two sides since the spring of 2022.

"Such a meeting, as the fruit of the work of the two sides, and the conclusion of an agreement is possible, but only after the agreement of the two sides," said Dmitry Peskov.

Yesterday, at a meeting in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation proposed to the Russians a meeting between the two presidents to find a solution to the war, and Moscow only announced that it had "taken note of it."

Peskov said that the continuation of negotiations with Ukraine will not be possible until the prisoner exchange agreed upon yesterday at the talks in Istanbul is implemented.

"What remains to be done is what the two delegations agreed upon yesterday. It is, of course, primarily about implementing the exchange of 1.000 prisoners."

Peskov also said that the two sides should exchange proposals for the conditions for a ceasefire, which was also agreed upon yesterday at talks in Istanbul.

As things stand, the positions of Moscow and Kiev remain irreconcilable.

In addition to demanding that Ukraine not join NATO, Putin is demanding the demilitarization of Ukraine and that Russia retain the Ukrainian territories annexed in 2022, plus Crimea annexed in 2014.

More broadly, the Russian president is also seeking a general reshaping of the "European security architecture," considering NATO's approach to Russia's borders an existential threat to his country.

Ukraine and its European allies firmly reject these demands, arguing that the Russian military, which still occupies almost 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, is waging an imperialist-style war in the former Soviet republic.

At yesterday's talks in Istanbul, the first between the two countries since the spring of 2022, no ceasefire was agreed upon, as Kiev and its allies had demanded, but only the announcement of a major prisoner exchange, and the gap still divides the two sides.

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