In press statements at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the also head of the Kremlin delegation at the talks called for asking the Ukrainian authorities to resume dialogue between the parties, as “Russia is open to talks”.
He said Kyiv cut off exchanges with Moscow following the visit of the US defense and foreign ministers to Ukraine in April.
“I understand that there were consultations, after that there was a pause in the negotiations. The break is undoubtedly very tragic for the people of Ukraine,” Medinski said.
He reminded that the consultations were broken off on Kiev’s initiative when the negotiating group agreed on a document.
However, he clarified that both delegations held regular phone calls, although the Ukrainian authorities were not ready for negotiations as before.
Negotiations between the two countries began on February 28, four days after Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began. From then on, several meetings took place, the first with venues in Belarus, until a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 29.
Results were obtained at this meeting to start the process towards a peace agreement, but days later it was rejected by the Ukrainian side.
In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on April 12 that Kyiv had stalled the process by moving away from the agreements reached during the dialogue in Turkey.
On April 20, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported that Moscow had sent a draft treaty to Kyiv and was awaiting a response, which it had not yet received.
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