At the Istanbul talks in March-April 2022, Putin "really wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine," one of the members of the Ukrainian delegation at the time, former Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Chaly, said at a debate at the Geneva Center for Security Policy.
According to him, a compromise was reached that was "absolutely far from Russia's original ultimatum proposal" made in Minsk (referring to the negotiations that began in the first days of the war and included Russia's demands for "demilitarization" and "denazification").
But, according to Chaly, "for some reason" the compromise Istanbul agreements were disrupted.
"I was in the group of Ukrainian negotiators at the time. We discussed with the Russian delegation for almost two months, in March and April, a possible agreement on a peaceful settlement between Ukraine and Russia. As you may remember, we signed the so-called Istanbul Communique. And at the end of April, we were very close to ending the war with some kind of peaceful settlement. For some reason, it was postponed," Chaly said.
He also believes that after February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin realized his mistake and wanted to conclude a peace agreement with Ukraine.
"But in my opinion, Putin, this is my personal point of view, Putin realized a week after February 24 last year that he had made a mistake and tried to do everything possible to conclude an agreement with Ukraine and the Istanbul Communique. It was his personal decision to accept the text of this communique, which was absolutely far from Russia's initial proposal, Russia's ultimatum proposal, which they presented to the Ukrainian delegation in Minsk. We managed to find a very real compromise. Putin really wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine. It is very important to remember this," said Chaly.
