Russia de-escalating situation in Ukraine

The Russian delegation received a clearly phrased position and proposals from Ukraine, which will be studied and reported to the country’s leadership, the head of the Russian delegation, Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters on Tuesday following Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul.

"We have received proposals from Ukraine for consideration and a clearly phrased position to be included into the treaty," he said. "These proposals will be studied in the near future and reported to the president and we will give a response."

Medinsky said the talks were "constructive."

Medinsky elaborated that the position of Kiev will be reviewed by Moscow and presented to President Vladimir Putin. After that, the Kremlin will give its response on whether it agrees to include Kiev's propositions in a final agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the negotiator explained.

The Russian chief negotiator also announced Moscow's plans to take military and political de-escalation steps. The military de-escalation will take the form of a "significant reduction" of military activities in the Kiev and Chernigov directions. The political de-escalation step suggests the possibility of a personal meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at the stage of preliminary approval of the final version of the agreement.

The Russian Defence Ministry explained the decision to de-escalate the military situation by the fact that negotiations on Ukraine's neutral and non-nuclear status, as well as security guarantees for the country, have become more "practical". The ministry stated that the step was necessary to increase a level of mutual trust in negotiations and ultimately to sign an agreement.

Russia suggests a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, be organized concurrently with the initialing of a bilateral treaty by the two countries’ foreign ministers, Medinsky said.

"After today’s meaningful conversation, we agreed and suggest a solution, under which a meeting between the heads of state is possible concurrently with the initialing of the treaty by the foreign ministers, the more so as during this initialing and consideration of the treaty’s details, it will be possible to discuss various political nuances and details," he said after the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul.

"So, if the work on the treaty and a required compromise proceeds swiftly, the possibility of peace will be much closer," he added.

According to Medinsky, the Russia side said earlier that such a meeting would be possible when a treaty drafted by the negotiators and foreign ministers of the two countries was ready for signing. "The format was as follows: first, a treaty is drafted, then it is approved by the negotiators, signed by foreign ministers at a personal meeting, and only after that a possible meeting between the heads of state is organized to sign this treaty," he said. "It is not a simple matter, the more so as it could be a multilateral meeting involving guarantor nations of peace and security in Ukraine."

The first round of Russian-Ukrainian talks was held in Belarus’ Gomel region on February 28. The talks lasted for five hours. The second round of talks was held on March 3 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in Belarus. The delegations met for the third round of talks on March 7, in the Brest region, also in Belarus. More rounds were held in the online format. Another off-line round of talks was held in Istanbul on Tuesday.