Peskov recalled Putin’s openness to negotiations on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to negotiations on a Ukrainian settlement, but because of Kyiv’s position, there is no “stable ground” for them. This was stated to journalists by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on his meeting with the African delegation.

“President Putin is open to dialogue, open to contacts… Another issue is efficiency. In the context of the position and history of this position that the Ukrainian regime now occupies, it is hardly necessary to talk about, let’s say, at least some stable ground for such eventual negotiations,” Peskov said.

Putin’s conversation with representatives of Africa, according to the Kremlin, was productive and this dialogue will continue.

On June 17, Putin received in St. Petersburg a mission of seven African countries, which presented a peace initiative to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. It was led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The meeting lasted over three hours.

Putin at the meeting showed the initialed agreement with Kiev, which was agreed in Istanbul last year. This document, according to him, was previously approved by the head of the negotiating group from Ukraine. Russia, according to him, has never refused to negotiate, and it was the leadership of Ukraine that announced that it would not conduct a dialogue.

Since the beginning of the military special operation in Ukraine, the parties have held negotiations several times. The first three face-to-face meetings took place in Belarus in February-March last year, and the fourth round of the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue was held on March 29 in Istanbul. Later, the process was frozen, since Kyiv withdrew from it.