MOSCOW | Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Sunday Russia is ready to resume peace talks with Ukraine and said their suspension was because of Kyiv.
“For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue,” Vladimir Medinsky, the Kremlin adviser in charge of negotiations with Kyiv, said in an interview with Belarusian television.
“The freezing of talks was entirely an initiative of Ukraine,” he added, believing that the “ball was in their court.”
“Russia has never refused negotiations,” he said.
The negotiations came after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 and failed to quickly take the capital.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey in March, then the delegations met in Istanbul, but without success.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator Mykhaylo Podolyak said Tuesday talks were “suspended” as Russia refocuses and restarts its “special operation” in eastern Ukraine.