The Russian president has accused Kiev of reneging on what was agreed in Istanbul
Kiev has gone back on the tentative agreements made between the Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams in Istanbul in late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. According to Putin, the peace talks have now “returned to a deadlock”.
Speaking at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Tuesday, Putin also thanked his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko for his role in making peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine possible in the first place. The Russian president stressed that “in large part, it was possible to start direct dialogue with the Ukrainian side thanks to the Belarusian president’s personal efforts.” The Russian head of state added that, in his eyes, Belarus was a suitable place for “further contacts” between Moscow and Kiev.
The latest round of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev was held two weeks ago in Istanbul, Turkey, where, according to the Russian side, the Ukrainian delegation offered its first draft of written proposals on how to resolve the conflict.
Last Thursday Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine’s new written proposals had deviated from what it submitted during in-person talks in Turkey. The new proposal, which Lavrov said was sent by Ukraine last Wednesday, fails to mention that the security guarantees Kiev wants to obtain from leading world powers do not cover Crimea, he said.
Russia has considered Crimea part of its territory since 2014, when the former Ukrainian region voted to break away in response to Western-backed Maidan in Kiev. Most of the world still recognises the peninsula as part of Ukraine.
Another deviation comes in the part that describes Ukraine’s commitment to restrict joint exercises with foreign powers on its territory, Lavrov also outlined. The previous version said such drills would only be possible if all nations guaranteeing Ukraine’s security agree to them, including Russia. The new version says a “majority of guarantors” must give their permission and does not mention Russia, Lavrov said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Sky News last Thursday that Moscow hopes the military offensive in Ukraine will end in the near future, possibly “in the coming days,” through either the Russian military reaching its goals or the finalization of an agreement between the two countries.
The leaders of Russia and Belarus met at the Russian spaceport on Tuesday, commemorating the 61st anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin. The Russian president also confirmed that he stood by his decision to launch a military offensive against Ukraine on February 24. While Putin admitted that “what is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy,” he insisted that Russia had no other option but to attack, with the military conflict erupting in “just a matter of time.”
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