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Neither Moscow nor Vatican received Zelensky’s proposal for meeting with Putin — Kremlin

The Ukrainian leader earlier said in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper that the Vatican could be the perfect place for the Donbass peace talks

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

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Vatican could be perfect place for meeting with Putin, Zelensky says

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Neither Moscow nor the Vatican has received any official proposal from Kiev for holding a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine in the Vatican, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"President Zelensky said that it would be the perfect place for such a meeting. However, neither the Vatican nor Russia has official information on the matter. We haven’t received specific information about the proposal," Peskov pointed out.

Meanwhile the Kremlin spokesman is unaware if the Russian president will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart anywhere other than in Moscow. "I don’t know if he is ready to travel anywhere," Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. "We all proceed from what President Putin said and since we are not a party to the conflict, there is no need to discuss Donbass issues, peace efforts, with us. It should be discussed within the four-member group. Putin pointed out that should Zelensky be willing to discuss bilateral relations, he is welcome to Moscow," the Kremlin spokesman noted.

Moscow and Kiev cannot tackle the issue of settling the Donbass conflict, since Russia is not a side in this struggle, nevertheless, they should find common ground on this matter, the spokesman pointed out.

"The matter of Donbass cannot be resolved between Kiev and Moscow, because Russia is not a side in this conflict," the spokesman stressed. "But in any case, we need to find common ground. The president [of Russia Vladimir Putin] has confirmed his readiness for dialogue many times."

Commenting on the statement by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in which he expressed his desire "to discuss peace with Putin," Peskov noted that striving for peace "should be wholeheartedly supported." "But the thing is that Ukraine and Russia have never been at war, thank God. Although Ukraine has damaged our bilateral relations significantly," the spokesman pointed out. "It seems that such political will prevails in Kiev."

"Work towards peace should be carried out in Ukraine itself. Russia is taking part in the Normandy Four with the aim of aiding this process," Peskov concluded.

On April 20, Zelensky offered Putin to meet in Donbass. Putin said on April 22 that as for discussing the problems of Donbass, the Ukrainian leadership should meet, first and foremost, with the heads of the self-proclaimed Donbass republics. At the same time, the Russian president pointed out that he was ready to welcome Zelensky in Moscow to discuss bilateral relations. The Ukrainian president announced on Monday that he had ordered chief of the presidential staff Andrei Yermak to organize his meeting with Putin.

Zelensky earlier said in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper that the Vatican could be the perfect place for the Donbass peace talks. Vatican diplomatic sources said that Zelensky had not discussed his proposal of holding a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the Vatican with the Holy See.

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