ANKARA, February 27. /TASS/. Peace in Ukraine could have been achieved as early as 2022 following the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, but "some nations" chose to prolong the conflict, said Chairman of the Grand National Assembly (parliament) of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmus.

"The Russian and Ukrainian delegations met at the [Istanbul Palace] Dolmabahce and practically agreed. But, unfortunately, peace did not occur, as certain powers took a position favoring the continuation of the war," he said after talks with Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, Russia and Ukraine have been negotiating - first in Belarus, and at the end of March 2022 in Istanbul.

By this time, the delegations had initialed a draft agreement, which included, in part, Ukraine's commitments to a neutral, non-aligned status and the rejection of foreign weapons on its territory, including nuclear weapons. However, the negotiation process was unilaterally interrupted by Ukraine. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, later admitted that this happened at the suggestion of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had specifically arrived in Kiev.