Moscow claims Kyiv's readiness to negotiate

The head of the Russian delegation, aide to the President of Russia Vladimir Medinsky, said that Kyiv, at the talks in Istanbul, for the first time in many years, declared its readiness to negotiate with Russia.

"And yesterday, for the first time in all previous years, the Kiev authorities declared their readiness to negotiate with Russia". Medinsky added that "they gave us the principles of a possible future agreement, written down on paper."

The head of the delegation said that these principles imply the following: Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, fixing the non-aligned status of Ukraine, renunciation of nuclear weapons, as well as the possession, acquisition, development of other types of weapons of mass destruction, renunciation of the deployment of foreign military bases and military contingents, obligations to carry out military exercises with the participation of foreign armed forces only upon agreement with the guarantor states, including Russia.