MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy could only happen as a final step to seal a peace deal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it was unlikely that such a meeting could occur by the end of August, as Ukraine has proposed.
“A summit meeting can and should put the final point on a settlement and cement the modalities and agreements worked out by experts. It is impossible to do it the other way round,“ Peskov told reporters.
“Is it possible to go through such a complex process in 30 days? Well, obviously, it is unlikely.”
Ukraine says a leaders’ meeting is required in order to achieve a breakthrough in the slow-moving process, which has seen the two sides hold three brief sessions of peace talks in Turkey since mid-May.
In comments to journalists, Zelenskiy said Russia had begun to engage over the possibility of such a meeting.
“Now, in talks with us, they have begun to discuss it. This is already progress towards some kind of meeting format,“ he said.
A Ukrainian delegate said after the latest round of peace talks on Wednesday, which lasted just 40 minutes, that Kyiv had proposed a Putin-Zelenskiy meeting in August because that would fall within the 50-day deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump had set last week for a deal.
Trump has threatened new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless an agreement is reached by early September.
Peskov once again described the two sides’ negotiating positions as “diametrically opposed”.
“It is unlikely that they can be brought together overnight. This will require very complex diplomatic work,“ he said. - Reuters
