VLADIVOSTOK, September 5. /TASS/. The West and the Kiev authorities abandoned the Istanbul agreements on a settlement in Ukraine in order to achieve Russia’s strategic defeat, but to no avail, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.
"We had practically achieved all parameters of a possible peace agreement with representatives of the government in Kiev. We agreed on everything. Moreover, Ukraine’s chief negotiator (David Arahamiya - TASS), who still heads the faction of the ruling party in the Verkhovna Rada, authorized these agreements," Putin pointed out. "True, there were still some details to be finalized, but on the whole the approval is still valid. It's a document. But then Mr. [Boris] Johnson (who served as British prime minister - TASS) arrived, as it is known - the British authorities confirm this - and instructed the Ukrainians to fight to the last Ukrainian. Which is happening today in an attempt to achieving Russia's strategic defeat."
"This does not work," Putin said.
The Ukrainian authorities, he recalled, have publicly stated that "if they had then carried out what we agreed with them and not obeyed their masters from other countries, the war would have stopped a long time ago."
"But they took a different path. The result is in sight," the Russian leader stated.
Russia has never refused to negotiate on Ukraine, Putin emphasized, but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of the Istanbul agreements.
"Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused to do so. But not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of the documents that were agreed and actually initialed in Istanbul."