Kremlin: West pushed Ukraine to quit 2022 spring peace talks with Russia

Russia’s Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the Ukrainian delegation withdrew from talks with Russia "on command from the top".

He made the remarks, reacting to the statement by Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz that the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire failed to take place last spring because of Western interference, Kommersant writes.

"We have been telling you this for six or seven months now. And President [Vladimir] Putin has been talking about it, and at various levels. We are talking about the very document that was agreed upon following complicated negotiations and that was initialled even. And then suddenly, as if on command from above - read, really on command from above - the Ukrainian side left the negotiating table and left the communication," Peskov told a press conference.

The last face-to-face talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 30, 2022. Afterwards, negotiations continued for several months in a distance format. In the spring, Ukraine withdrew from the negotiation process. In the autumn, Ukraine passed a law making it impossible to negotiate with Russia as long as its president is Vladimir Putin.

The parties have repeatedly put forward demands on each other that must be met to return to negotiations.