Putin gives condition for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine

The documents that Russian and Ukrainian sides had initiated in Istanbul could be used as the basis for negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"We have never refused this [negotiations with Kiev], but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of the documents that had been agreed upon and actually initialed in Istanbul," Putin said.

The "whole trick" is that Moscow and Kyiv managed to agree at meetings in Turkey in 2022. This is evidenced by the signature of the head of the Ukrainian delegation, who initialed the document.

"This means that the Ukrainian side was generally satisfied with the agreements reached. [The agreement] did not enter into force only because the Kyiv authorities were ordered not to proceed," Putin concluded.

In November 2023, Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia, who headed the country's delegation at those negotiations, said that Kyiv's decision to refuse to continue the talks was influenced, among other things, by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice.

Details

There have been several rounds of peace talks to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) and end the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present) in an armistice. The first meeting was held four days after the start of the invasion, on 28 February 2022, in Belarus. It concluded without result, with delegations from both sides returning to their capitals for consultations. A second and third round of talks took place on 3 and 7 March 2022, on the Belarus–Ukraine border, in an undisclosed location in the Gomel region of Belarus. A fourth and fifth round of talks were respectively held on 10 and 14 March in Antalya, Turkey.
During a series of meetings, by the end of March Russia and Ukraine negotiators produced the Istanbul Communiqué, "Key Provisions of the Treaty on Ukraine's Security Guarantees" - a framework of a possible agreement. The agreement would have declared Ukraine to be a neutral state, put a limit on its military, and list Russia and Western countries, including the US and the UK, as guarantors, obliged to assist Ukraine in case of aggression against it. The talks almost reached agreement, with both sides "consider[ing] far-reaching concessions", but stopped in May 2022 due to a combination of several factors.