"Moscow is ready to continue negotiations on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, including in the Istanbul format", - reported the russian outlet Izvestia on October 31, publishing an interview with Deputy Foreign Minister of russia Mikhail Galuzin.
His direct quote: "Russia is open to a political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis and to continuing direct talks with representatives of Kyiv. Turkish officials have repeatedly confirmed their readiness to continue providing Istanbul as a platform for them. Thus, all the conditions for developing the Istanbul track are in place". At the same time, according to Galuzin, as usual, Kyiv is “to blame” — “it is not showing political will”.
"All the proposals that the russian delegation voiced during the Istanbul process — including the organization of local humanitarian ceasefires along the line of contact, prisoner exchanges, the return of bodies of the dead, the repatriation of civilians, the creation of three working groups, and memorandums on the principles of a peaceful settlement — all of this remains on the negotiating table. We are ready to work on them and discuss possible counter-initiatives from the Ukrainian delegation", - said Galuzin.
It should be recalled that after the second round of negotiations between russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in June of this year, it became known that russia had handed Ukraine a so-called “memorandum”, in which it demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts as the first condition for a ceasefire, as well as the suspension of Western aid to Ukraine during the “truce”, the halting of mobilization, the lifting of martial law, and the holding of elections.
The kremlin constantly declares that negotiations “must take into account the real situation” and the “results of the 2022 Istanbul talks”, when russia demanded Ukraine’s neutrality, the reduction of the Armed Forces, and full control over the occupied Ukrainian territories.