Aborted peace deal could be basis for Ukraine talks, says Kremlin

12/4/2024 18:51

        An aborted 2022 peace deal between Russia and Ukraine could be the basis for new negotiations but there is no sign that Kyiv is ready for talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
        
        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.