Berlin [Germany], June 4: The Russian government sees an early three-way meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump as unlikely, according to a Kremlin spokesman.
Putin is ready for contacts at the highest level, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on Tuesday, according to a report by the Interfax news agency.
"But he emphasizes that such contacts should be the result of agreements reached beforehand at the technical level."
Trump has raised the possibility of such a three-way summit in his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than three years. Despite the lack of a breakthrough at Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul on Monday, Peskov said that there were important results in the humanitarian field. At their second meeting since mid-May, the warring parties agreed on another large exchange of prisoners and the return of soldiers' bodies.
Moscow now expects Ukraine to respond to the Russian list of demands, Peskov said. These include the permanent ceding of Ukrainian territories - which is unacceptable to Kiev. The international community meanwhile has to recognize Russia's territorial conquests, stop military support for Ukraine and lift sanctions against Russia.
Possible compromises on these demands should be discussed in the negotiation process, but not debated publicly, Peskov said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
