The meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine is likely to take place in Istanbul

“Yesterday, I had a conversation with President Zelensky, and today, at 4 pm (local time) we will have an interview with President Putin. According to the results of preliminary consultations ministry, we can now meet leaders at the highest level to take steps at the leadership level, especially on the issue of Crimea and Donbass.

President Zelensky has expressed a positive view, and I hope President Putin will take it too. If we can hold a Summit in Istanbul to decide to turn the negative trend into a positive, we will be very happy about it.”Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said.

Earlier, Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Russia and Ukraine will continue to negotiate online, but Moscow’s principled position regarding the status of Crimea and the Donbass region has not changed.

On March 29, the first round of direct talks in more than three weeks between the Russian delegation and the Ukrainian delegation was held in Istanbul. The Russian side gave a “positive” assessment of this round of negotiations. According to Medinsky, Ukraine’s written proposal to Russia in Istanbul included Kiev’s commitments not to become a member of NATO, not to possess nuclear weapons, and to guarantee its non-alignment status. Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between President Putin and the President of Ukraine, but this meeting must be carefully prepared to achieve certain results.