“The talks are not going on. Ukraine has actually withdrawn from the negotiation process, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said on the sidelines of the 2nd Central Asian conference of the international discussion club Valdai.
"The talks are not continuing. Ukraine has in fact quit the process of negotiations," he said in reply to a TASS question.
He added that Kyiv had failed to provide an answer to the draft treaty Russia had proposed.
“Today the negotiation process was suspended. It was suspended because there are no significant changes or upheavals after the Istanbul communique,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, was quoted as saying.
Nevertheless, he voiced the belief that the peace talks will be resumed, emphasizing that “every war ends at the negotiating table”.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held the latest round of face-to-face peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said that Moscow-Kyiv negotiations had been paused as "the Ukrainian side displayed no interest in a constructive dialogue".
RHM/PR
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