Moscow ready for peace talks with Kyiv but sees no prospect

Commenting on a statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who said Russia was willing to hold talks with Ukraine, Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, "In a situation when Ukraine’s president is banned from contacting us or somehow engaging with us by Ukrainian law and when the West is obviously reluctant to allow Kyiv any flexibility here, there is no discussing any prospect [for dialogue] at this point."

"Russia has always been ready to settle issues through negotiations," the Kremlin spokesman emphasized. "And [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly said that we are still ready for this." "Of course, we would prefer to attain our goals through peaceful and diplomatic ways," he added, according to TASS.

Peskov admitted that no talks were currently possible as long as there was a legislative ban on negotiations with Russia in Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal reported on December 22, citing anonymous American and European sources, that Kyiv was working on the final details of their peaceful conflict settlement proposal, which could be made public this February.

Earlier, Zelensky told a joint meeting of the US Congress, following his talks with American President Joe Biden, that the two had discussed Kyiv’s proposals to settle the Ukraine conflict. According to Zelensky, Biden supported Ukraine’s initiative to hold a global peace summit to discuss these proposals.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that any "peace plan" on Ukraine should take the new realities into account, namely the accession of four new regions to Russia.

MNA/PR