Moscow.- Russia proposed a meeting between its President Vladimir Putin; and his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, said today the head of Russia’s negotiating team in talks with Kyiv, Vladimir Medinsky.
At a press conference concluding the dialogue on Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey, the Russian presidential adviser also said that this meeting could take place at the same time as the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries at foreign ministerial level.
He explained that both leaders could discuss “details of the agreement, nuances and political details” at the time of signing and considering the document, the TASS news agency reported.
“In this way, if the treaty is worked out quickly and the necessary compromise is found, the possibility of achieving peace will be much closer,” he added.
According to the Russian representative, it was a constructive meeting, during which the Ukrainian side presented a clearly formulated position and proposals, which will be considered and communicated to the Kremlin leadership.
He also indicated that Russian forces will drastically reduce military actions towards the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv and said Russia has taken “two steps to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine,” TV channel RT reported.
Russian-Ukrainian consultations began on February 28 in the Gomel region of Belarus and continued on March 3-7 in the Bialowieza Nature Reserve, also in that country.
On March 10, the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine Sergey Lavrov and Dmitry Kuleba met in the presence of their counterpart from that nation, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the Turkish city of Antalya.
In press statements on March 25, Medinski commented that talks on key issues were continuing without progress, while positions on minor issues were getting closer.
He stressed that Moscow insists on signing a comprehensive treaty that, in addition to Ukraine’s neutral status and its security guarantees, will set out a number of clauses fundamental to the Eurasian nation.
He pointed out that these priorities are demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, definition of status and recognition of Crimea and Donbass People’s Republics.
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 after the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics requested help to repel mounting aggression from Kyiv.