BERLIN, January 10. /TASS/. Ukraine must decide on its own when to begin talks with Russia, but Germany sees no indication that it is ready for this, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

"The federal government believes that it is up to Ukraine to decide when to begin talks," he said. "Judging by our conversations with the Ukrainian side, we cannot recognize such readiness at this point. When we see it, we will comment on it."

The first Russian-Ukrainian talks after the beginning of the special military operation were held in early March 2022 in Belarus but yielded no results. Another round of talks was held in Istanbul on Match 29, 2022 when Moscow received a document from Kiev about the conditions for a potential agreement. It included Ukraine’s obligations to observe a neutral, off-bloc status and not to deploy foreign weapons, including nuclear, on its territory. Following this, Russia withdrew its troops in the Kiev and Chernigov areas but, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kiev backed out of the agreements and the talks were frozen. In October 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky enforced the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council’s resolution banning any negotiations with Putin.