MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russia and Ukraine were close to concluding a peace deal to end their conflict after they held talks in Istanbul in March 2022, said Ukraine’s former First Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Chaly who was on the country’s delegation at the talks.

"We spend two months - March and April - discussing with the Russian delegation a possible peaceful settlement deal between Ukraine and Russia. And we, as you remember, concluded the so-called Istanbul communique. And we were very close in mid to late April to ending the war with some kind of peace agreement. For some reason it was postponed," he said as he recalled the 2022 talks at a Geneva Centre for Security Policy conference, according to a video of the event posted to the center’s YouTube channel.

"We managed to find a real compromise. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin really wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine," Chaly said.

He did not explain what prevented the peace deal from being signed last year.