Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine based on "Istanbul agreements" – Putin

Kremlin dictator Putin said that Russia was ready to resume peace talks with Ukraine on the basis of the 2022 "Istanbul agreements" and "realities on the ground."

As Censor.NET reports, he was quoted by Russian media.

Russia's demands

"Russia, as has already been stated repeatedly, is ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine. It is ready on the basis of the agreements that were reached back in Istanbul and were initialed by the Ukrainian delegation. That means everything suited them. I see no reason for us to move away from these agreements. On the basis of the agreements reached in Istanbul, on the basis of the modalities discussed in Anchorage, and the realities on the ground in the zone of the 'special military operation'," Putin claims.

He also added that the points from his 2024 speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry should be taken into account.

What is this about?

As a reminder, the Istanbul agreements of April 2022 provided for Ukraine's permanent neutral status, refusal to join NATO, a significant reduction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a ban on the deployment of foreign military bases, and separate negotiations on Crimea.
In addition, Moscow insisted on restricting the West's right to provide military assistance to Kyiv and wanted to secure the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea for itself.
The "Anchorage principles," as understood by Moscow, provide for the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas and the freezing of the frontline in other regions.
The conditions set out by Putin in his speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in June 2024 included the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and recognition by the international community of Russian sovereignty over these regions and Crimea, Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, and the lifting of all Western sanctions.

Complaints about AFU strikes

At the same time, before that, the Kremlin leader also said he saw no prerequisites for resuming negotiations with Zelenskyy because of Ukrainian strikes on Russia.

"Everything that is being done in this area by this same Kyiv regime, which I have just mentioned, is being done for only one purpose: to create favorable conditions for itself in the event of the start or, more precisely, the resumption of peace negotiations interrupted at Ukraine's initiative from so-called positions of strength... We know and see that, as the situation on the front rapidly deteriorates for it, as the enemy loses one territory after another, while our fighters take one settlement after another, the Kyiv regime has adopted the tactic of striking our civilian facilities and civilian infrastructure," Putin said.