MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday said it had not yet agreed to hold peace talks with Ukraine at the Vatican after US media reported the city-state could host a meeting as early as mid-June.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held their first face-to-face talks on the conflict in more than three years last week in Istanbul, but did not reach an agreement on a ceasefire.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that follow-up talks between the two sides were expected to take place at the Vatican, starting mid-June, but the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied this.
“There have been no agreements on this matter,” Peskov told reporters.
Peskov also denied Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s suggestion that “technical talks” could take place at the Vatican as early as next week.
“There are no specific agreements for the next meetings. This has yet to be agreed upon,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, but neither his call nor the earlier talks in Istanbul resulted in Russia offering any concessions.
Following his call with the Russian President, Trump said that Russia and Ukraine will immediately begin negotiations on a ceasefire. He also noted the Vatican has offered to host the talks.
“I think it would be great to have it at the Vatican and maybe it would have some extra significance. And I saw that it was discussed yesterday. So I thought that people told me that they’d be honoured to do it,” Trump said.
Trump has been pushing for a 30-day ceasefire in the war, and the White House said before Monday’s calls that he was frustrated with both sides.
The president called for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine before entering office, and more than two months of direct diplomacy has failed to get Putin to agree to even basic terms.
On Monday, Trump described the tone and spirit of his conversation with Putin as “excellent.”
Putin has repeatedly rejected proposals for a 30-day truce put forward by Kyiv and its Western allies, proposing instead to work on a “memorandum” outlining Russia’s positions.
The Russian leader, in remarks reported by Russian state media after a phone call with Trump, said Russia was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum on a future peace treaty.
But the Kremlin spokesperson downplayed expectations of quick agreement, saying ending the Ukraine war would require “rather painstaking and, perhaps, prolonged work,” Russian state media reported.
Zelensky, speaking at a press conference Monday evening, rejected Putin’s demands to withdraw Ukrainian troops from four partially occupied regions. Russian negotiators reportedly raised those conditions during the talks in Istanbul.
