MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Thursday it was still waiting for a response from Ukraine on Russia’s proposal to hold the next round of peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 to begin discussions on draft memorandums for a peace accord.
Russia on Wednesday proposed the new round of direct negotiations, aiming to present Ukraine with a memorandum outlining what it described as the key elements for “overcoming the root causes” of the conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that so far Moscow has not received a reply from Kyiv.
When asked to comment on Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha’s suggestion that Russia should immediately hand over the memorandum, Peskov dismissed the idea as “non-constructive”.
“Here, you have to either confirm your readiness to continue negotiations or do the opposite,” Peskov said.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Wednesday that Kyiv had already submitted its memorandum on a potential settlement and called on Russia to produce its version immediately, rather than waiting until next week.
The previous talks on May 16 failed to reach an agreement on a ceasefire – which Moscow has said is impossible to achieve before certain conditions are met.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Alexander Marrow)
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