Ukraine adheres to Istanbul Communique, negotiator says
Russian and Ukrainian flags are seen on a table before the talks between officials of the two countries in the Gomel region, Belarus Feb. 28, 2022. (BelTA/Handout via Reuters)


A top Ukrainian negotiator rejected Russia's claims that Kyiv has changed its position regarding the points agreed upon by both sides at peace talks held in Turkey last month.

"Despite statements by the Russian Foreign Minister, the Ukrainian side adheres to the Istanbul Communique and hasn't changed its position," David Arakhamia, faction leader of the ruling Servant of the People's Party, who also led the March 29 peace talks in Istanbul, wrote on the Telegram messaging application.

"The only difference is that we don't consider additional issues that weren't included in the Istanbul Communiqué, which may have led to a misinterpretation of the current state of the negotiation process," he added.

Arakhamia also said Ukraine is continuing to hold talks online to try to win future external security guarantees for the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier Tuesday that Ukraine changed its stance from last month's peace talks in Istanbul and the discussions are now at a "dead end."

After the three-hour talks in Istanbul late last month, Ukraine called for some nations, including Turkey, to be guarantors in a possible peace deal.

Russia said it will significantly decrease military activities in the direction of the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase trust for future negotiations.

Turkey, a NATO member with close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, hosted the highest-level Russian-Ukrainian peace talks late last month since the military campaign started more than six weeks ago and has been encouraging both sides to continue negotiations.

It hosted face-to-face talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul after a first round in the southern province of Antalya. Ankara has offered to host future peace talks.

Erdoğan says the meeting in Istanbul had given "meaningful impetus" to efforts to end the war in Ukraine and has been reiterating his proposal to bring together Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin at a meeting in Turkey.