Moscow, Jul 26 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, that freezing the war in Ukraine is impossible because of Kyiv’s current position.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Saturday that Putin explained “in detail” the situation surrounding the conflict during a meeting between the two leaders in the Russian city of Omsk.
“For us, there is one key condition: we must achieve our objectives,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
He added that, given Ukraine’s current position, “freezing (the conflict) as such is impossible.”
Peskov said Russia had previously outlined the conditions required to halt the fighting.
Those conditions include, in particular, the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbas region, something Kyiv has consistently rejected.
Earlier on Saturday, Tokayev called for freezing hostilities in Ukraine during his meeting with Putin. He regretted that the nature of the conflict is difficult to understand for Kazakhstan and many other countries.
“Perhaps the time has come to freeze this conflict and return to an ‘Istanbul Formula 2.0,’ given that significant results were achieved there,” he said.
In 2022, just months after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, the Kazakh leader told Putin that Astana would never recognize the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, both annexed by Russia. EFE