Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky should happen once the two sides are closer to agreeing on key issues, according to Reuters.
Speaking to Serbian media outlets, Lavrov added that any meeting between Putin and Zelensky to exchange views on the conflict right now would be counter-productive.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
The Kremlin said on Monday that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine may get underway in Turkey on Tuesday and said it was important that the talks would be held face-to-face despite scant progress in negotiations so far.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan agreed in a telephone call on Sunday for Istanbul to host the talks, which Ankara hopes will lead to a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Turkey said the talks could begin as early as Monday, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that was unlikely as the negotiators would only be arriving in Turkey on Monday.
Peskov told reporters that no progress had been made on the idea of a potential meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He also said that the talks had so far failed to yield any substantive progress or breakthroughs.