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President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia and
Ukraine were on the verge of agreeing a deal to end hostilities
at talks in Istanbul in April 2022, but that Ukraine backed away
from it once Russian troops fell back from near Kyiv.
The deal is reported to have included clauses demanding that
Ukraine adopt a geopolitically neutral status and not join NATO,
limit the size of its armed forces, and grant a special status
to eastern Ukraine - all things which Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made clear he opposes.
In remarks on Thursday, Putin again raised the subject of
potential peace talks and said he was open for what he called
realistic negotiations but not for talks which Ukraine is
holding which seek to bypass Moscow and do not, in his view,
take new realities into account.
Peskov, Putin's spokesman, said a lot had changed since 2022,
including what he said was the addition to Russian territory of
four new regions, a reference to the parts of Ukraine which
Moscow has claimed as its own.
But Peskov said the aborted Istanbul deal could still be the
basis for new talks and that Russia was ready for that. When
asked if Moscow sensed any readiness from the Ukrainian side for
talks however, Peskov said: "No, we don't sense that."
Ukraine says it wants all of its territory back, including
Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and for every Russian
soldier to leave its territory. It is trying to drive
international talks on its stance which exclude Russia.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Andrew
Osborn)
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