MOSCOW – The Kremlin sees no prerequisites for arranging a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky before the end of this year; the Kremlin has never rejected such talks, but their agenda needs to be prepared, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Truth be told, there are no prerequisites for doing so now. No new elements have emerged in that area,” Peskov told reporters on Oct. 4 when asked if Putin and Zelensky might meet before the end of this year.
The Russian president has never denied the possibility of such a meeting, Peskov said. “What’s more, he has said that he is ready to meet, but before that happens, it will be necessary to decide what the two presidents might talk about. We haven’t seen any progress in that respect,” he said.
Zelensky said last weekend that he was ready to meet with Putin, and one-on-one talks could be fruitful. He said, however, that Russia was unwilling to meet in such a format, because it could allegedly have an unexpected result.
