All news

Zelensky reveals plans for his office to contact Russian side at insistence of EU, Merkel

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that there were no prospects for top-level contacts between Moscow and Kiev because there were no changes in the modality and status of the existing agreements

KIEV, November 26. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Friday the head of his office, Andrei Yermak, will get in touch with Russia’s representatives in the near future, since the European Union leadership and German acting Chancellor Angela Merkel insists on it.

"We will call [the Russian side] without fail," he told a news conference. "They (European Council President Charles Michel and German acting Chancellor Angela Merkel - TASS) want our administration to contact the Russian administration. I think that Yermak will get in touch with them. We have absolutely no objections," he said, adding that he speaks over the phone with the leaders of various countries every day and "they want us to begin to speak with Russia along with them."

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that there were no prospects for top-level contacts between Moscow and Kiev because there were no changes in the modality and status of the existing agreements. At the same time, he reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for such dialogue if it has a corresponding agenda and this has been stressed repeatedly. According to the Kremlin spokesman, the Ukrainian and Russian presidential administrations did have contacts in order to explore topics that could be discussed but so far there is no understanding about the agenda for a possible meeting.