Russia has decided to “dramatically” scale back its military activities in the Kyiv area, a top Moscow defence ministry official said following a fresh round of peace talks with Ukrainian counterparts in Istanbul.
Alexander Fomin, Russia’s deputy defence minister, said the move was intended to “increase mutual trust” as he announced it in Turkey after face-to-face talks concluded on Tuesday. But western officials cautioned against taking Moscow’s pledge at face value.
“Nothing we have seen so far suggests that Putin and his colleagues are particularly serious about the talks. They are likely just playing for time,” said one. On Tuesday US President Joe Biden said he wouldn’t “read anything into” Russia’s decision. “We’ll see if they follow through on what they’re suggesting,” he said, speaking at the White House after a meeting with Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Both Moscow and Kyiv indicated that they had made progress at the Istanbul talks, but negotiators said the path to any lasting deal was likely to be long and fraught.
Fomin said the discussions were “entering a practical stage” on the issues of Ukraine’s neutrality and non-nuclear status — two key Russian demands — and on the provision of security guarantees for Ukraine, one of Kyiv’s priorities.
In a video shared by state media, he said Russia’s defence ministry had taken the decision to “dramatically reduce military activities in the directions of Kyiv and Chernihiv” in order to “create the necessary conditions for future negotiations”.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and member of the country’s delegation, said “today, we have positions that can be almost supported by both the Russian Federation and the guarantor countries”, referring to the states that would be expected to underwrite Ukraine’s security as part of a settlement.
-Aljazeera-