Kremlin says meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy not expected after talks in Istanbul

The Kremlin has said not to expect a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents after the Russian-Ukrainian talks due to take place in Istanbul.

Details: Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president, in a media commentary on Monday, quoted by Russia's Interfax

According to Peskov: "No. There is no progress."

Details: According to the Russian media, this is how Peskov responded to a question whether there was any progress on the subject of a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and whether one could be expected following the talks in Istanbul.

He also said that the topic of prisoner-of-war exchange was not a subject of the Russian-Ukrainian talks: "This (prisoner-of-war exchange) is not a subject of the negotiations between the two delegations. Therefore, the answer is no."

Peskov noted that a new round of talks could take place on Tuesday in Turkey.

According to Peskov: "So far we cannot and will not talk about progress. The very fact that a decision has been made to continue negotiations in a face-to-face format is important, of course. But for the time being we still stick to the policy of not divulging any details relating to the negotiations. We believe this can only be detrimental to the negotiation process....

But so far, unfortunately, we cannot observe any significant achievements or breakthroughs."

Background: The Ukrainian and Russian delegations are travelling to Istanbul for the next round of talks, which is scheduled for 29-30 March.

As a reminder: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba explained that many different issues are being discussed simultaneously in the delegations' subgroups. The negotiation process is very difficult.

According to Kuleba, the Ukrainian delegation has taken a strong position and is not giving up its demands. The minister stressed that Ukraine insists above all on a ceasefire and on guarantees of Ukraine's security and territorial integrity.

Background:

• The first three rounds of talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place in person on 28 February, 3 March and 7 March, in Belarus; subsequently, the delegations have been working continuously on peace proposals by video link.
• On 10 March, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia - Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov - met in Antalya in Turkey. They discussed a humanitarian corridor to and from Mariupol and a general 24-hour ceasefire, but made no progress.