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Russia-Ukraine war: In a major blow to a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow on Friday said the communication between negotiators of both countries has been “paused”.
“Communication channels are available, those have been established. Even as our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate via these channels, rather, we can state that this communication has been paused,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about contacts between negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv, Tass reported.
The development comes as Rodion Miroshnik, Russian Foreign Ministry’s special envoy, alleged that Ukraine was hell bent on preventing meaningful negotiations with Russia, accusing Kyiv of targeting Russia’s civilian population and public transport with a “clear purpose”.
“They are striking homes and civilian populations, and attacking public transport with a clear purpose – to sway public opinion. Their goal is to destabilize morale and provoke an incident that could either undermine negotiations or, ideally, lead to their complete collapse. Kiev’s strategy is to pressure Russia into abandoning talks altogether, by creating a climate where civilians are led to believe that negotiation offers no hope,” Miroshnik, who is designated as the “Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the Crimes committed by the Kiev Regime” told Tass.
Notably, Russia and Ukraine have held held three rounds of direct talks since May this year, and agreed to a prisoner exchange deal after the first two rounds under a “thousand for a thousand” formula, as well the return of seriously ill and young (under 25) prisoners under an “all for all” format – at least a thousand people from each side.
In June, as a follow-up to the Istanbul agreements, Moscow returned the first 6,060 bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen and received 78 dead Russian soldiers; and on July 17, another 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, receiving in response 19 bodies of fallen Russian soldiers.
The third round of Russia-Ukraine talks took place in Istanbul on July 23, during which both countries agreed to exchange civilians along with service members.
Russia invited Ukraine to set up three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian issues, and also offered to transfer the bodies of another 3,000 Ukrainian troops as well as resume short humanitarian pauses on the frontline in order to collect the wounded and the dead.
The last exchange of bodies of slain servicemen took place on August 19, with Russia transferring 1,000 bodies and Ukraine 19, according to Tass.
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