The Interfax Ukraine agency quoted David Arakhamiya of the Ukraine negotiating team on Saturday evening as saying that Russia had indicated that documents for a draft peace treaty had progressed sufficiently to allow direct consultations with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In Moscow you see things differently.
“Therefore, our task at the moment is to work out the final version of the documents and open questions in order to enable a possible meeting of the presidents,” Arachamija continued. Should the meeting take place, it will probably be held in Turkey, either in Ankara or Istanbul. In recent weeks, Zelensky has repeatedly called for direct talks with Putin to end the war of aggression that Moscow began on February 24. The Kremlin has so far rejected this, pointing out that Putin is demanding a concrete basis – in the sense of completed preliminary negotiations – for this meeting.
“Russia’s stance unchanged”
The Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinski confirmed this on Sunday via the short message service Telegram: From the Russian point of view, the peace negotiations have not yet reached a stage that would enable a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. “I repeat again and again: Russia’s position on Crimea and Donbass remains UNCHANGED,” Medinski wrote.
On the other hand, Arakhamija said that Russia had basically accepted Ukraine’s position, with the exception of the position on Crimea. While Russia considers the status of Crimea to be clarified as a result of the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, in violation of international law, Kyiv wants to agree on a 15-year review phase. The other points concern Ukraine’s neutrality and its renunciation of foreign military bases, in exchange for international security guarantees from a number of countries, such as Israel, Turkey, Canada and Poland.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that the Russian-Ukrainian talks were “not easy”. But it is important that they continue, the agency quoted Ria Peskow. Russia has suggested continuing talks in Belarus, which Ukraine has rejected. The most recent round of talks took place in Turkey at the beginning of the week.
Source: Nachrichten
