Kremlin reports no discussion between Russian, Turkish presidents on freezing Ukraine conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not discuss the Turkish leader's proposed initiative to freeze the conflict in Ukraine on the current front line, the Kremlin confirmed.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, made the statement in response to earlier reports, Caliber.Az reports per Russian media.

Peskov denied that the issue was brought up during recent talks between the two leaders.

Bloomberg had previously reported that Erdogan was planning to present such an initiative during the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to present his proposal on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war at the Group of 20 leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro, an article by Bloomberg said.

“Erdogan's suggestion is said to freeze the conflict in the current lines. According to his plan, Kyiv will agree to delay discussions on joining the alliance for at least 10 years as a concession to the Kremlin.

Furthermore, Turkish leader envisions the creation of a demilitarized zone in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine where Russia has controlled large swathes of territory since 2014. The territory is effectively occupied by Russia and in September 2022, Russia's President Vladimit Putin announced annexation of "the new territories."

Erdogan will suggest that "international troops could be deployed there as an additional guarantee and that Ukraine would be assured of military supplies to compensate for agreeing to be left out of NATO," Bloomberg said.

However, Peskov emphasized that the Kremlin was not aware of any such proposal.

“No, it has not been discussed, and so far we have also paid attention to these publications, but so far we do not possess any data on this matter, we do not know what this may be about,” Peskov said.

By Vafa Guliyeva