On October 27, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said there was no progress on a further round of talks between Moscow and Kiev to resolve the conflict.
Deputy Minister Galuzin reiterated the Kremlin's viewpoint, previously stated by spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Accordingly, the Russian side said that Ukraine is still " avoiding dialogue" and "not responding" to Russia's peace proposals. Mr. Galuzin affirmed that the situation has not changed.
This statement was made in the context of the peace process for the nearly 3-year conflict still at a standstill, with no specific results yet.
Despite recent notable diplomatic activities, such as US efforts or discussions on the possibility of a summit between President Trump and President Putin, hopes for substantive talks between Moscow and Kiev are still very slim.
The most recent official round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place on July 23 in Istanbul, Turkey. This is the third round of dialogue between the two sides.
At this meeting, the two heads of the negotiation delegation, Mr. Vladimir Medinsky (Russia) and Mr. Rustem Umerov (Ukraine), had a private meeting before. After that, the two delegations had an expanded general meeting lasting about 40 minutes. The main content is to discuss the stance of each side based on existing draft agreements.
At the meeting in Istanbul, the two sides reached certain agreements, notably agreeing on a civil exchange with the military.
Russia has also made a number of other proposals, including the establishment of three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian issues.
Russia has proposed returning the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers and resuming short humanitarian stands on the front line to collect the wounded and dead.
However, Medinsky said the decision to hold a fourth round of talks would only come after the new agreements reached in Istanbul are implemented. Since then, no more formal negotiations have taken place.
Ukraine has always affirmed that the prerequisite for any substantive negotiations is that Russia withdraw all its troops from its territory, a request that Moscow has strongly rejected. This fundamental difference in stance continues to be the biggest obstacle to the peace process.
