Ukrainian Negotiator Says Talks With Russia Likely in 2023

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine's chief negotiator at the talks with Russia Davyd Arakhamia believes the negotiations could start anew in the second half of 2023, Ukrainian media report.

Arakhamia said as quoted by a Ukrainian news portal on Saturday that the talks could happen when the presidential race kicks of in the US, "when the electoral cycles start working both in Russia and in the United States, that is, it will be somewhere in the second half of next year."

Russia-Ukraine talks began at the end of February after the start of Moscow's military operation. The last round of the negotiations concluded in Istanbul on March 29. The talks have since stalled.

In late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was still open to talks with Kiev and called on Ukraine to stop the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, stated that Kiev was ready for dialogue with Moscow, but only if another president came to power in Russia. The Kremlin responded that Moscow would wait for a change in the stance of Ukraine's current president or his successor.

Earlier this month, Zelensky laid out the conditions for peace negotiations with Russia, demanding restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, respect for the UN Charter, "compensation for all damages caused by the war," and guarantees that the conflict "will not happen again," among other things.

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that Moscow was not putting forward any preconditions for negotiations with Ukraine, but Kiev must show goodwill. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was "open for contacts," but Ukraine "has codified the non-continuation of negotiations."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday that he would consider a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov if he receives such a request.