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Istanbul Agreements is only way leading to dialogue on Ukrainian settlement, says Putin

"The document exists, we have it. This is a draft treaty," the President noted

NOVO-OGARYOVO, October 18. /TASS/. Russia is ready to hold a dialogue on a peaceful settlement of conflict in Ukraine, but only based on the Istanbul agreements, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"We had long negotiations [with Ukraine] in Turkey, in Istanbul, and the result of these negotiations was an agreement that was initiated by the head of the Ukrainian delegation," said at the meeting with the heads of leading BRICS media.

"The document exists, we have it. This is a draft treaty. A part of this document was initiated by a head of one of the negotiating parties," Putin said addressing a meeting with the heads of leading BRICS media.

"However, if Ukraine signed that document, it means that everything satisfied them and some of their fundamental necessities. It was possible to talk at that time about some details, to finalize the document, but I think it was inappropriate to trash that document," Putin noted.

"This is why we are ready to hold a dialogue on a peaceful settlement of the conflict, but only based on the document that was prepared during extensive negotiations following several months and had been initiated by the Ukrainian side," the Russian president added.

On Istanbul talks

A meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul was held on March 29, 2022, with talks lasting for about three hours. The future agreement included Ukraine’s obligations on a neutral non-aligned status and the rejection of stationing foreign arms, including nuclear ones, on its territory.

Russian forces in the area of Kiev and Chernigov were withdrawn, however, following this, the negotiations on the settlement were completely frozen. As the Russian president noted, Kiev rejected all agreements. In October 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council banning all talks with Putin.

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