The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine that the delegations of Kyiv and Moscow, which participated in negotiations to resolve the armed conflict between the two countries have not reached any agreement in Istanbul in March 2022.
In response to a question about how he sees the prospect of concessions in possible negotiations with Russia in the future, the Ukrainian minister mentioned that “the so-called agreements in Istanbul never existed”.
At the same time, Kuleba called “success of Russian propaganda” the situation where, when talking about the end of the conflict over Ukraine, it is first said that Kiev must make concessions. “We categorically reject this way of thinking. We have sacrificed enough, we have fought enough. And we deserve much more respect than talking about what else we can sacrifice”, he said.
The first negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine after the start of hostilities took place in early March 2022 in Belarus, but did not lead to tangible results. On March 29, 2022, the next round took place in Istanbul, when Moscow received from Kiev for the first time the written principles of a possible future agreement. They also included commitments to Ukraine's neutral, non-aligned status and its refusal to deploy foreign weapons, including nuclear weapons, on its territory. However, the negotiation process was unilaterally interrupted by Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview in February with journalist Tucker Carlson, said that Russia has never refused a dialogue on Ukraine, but after the termination of negotiations in Istanbul, it will not take the first step. According to him, the terms of the agreement should be discussed, including keeping the situation as it is now.