MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. Kiev has officially halted peace talks with Moscow, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa said on Wednesday.
"Since the peace talks ended this year without significant progress, they were halted," Liga.net web portal quoted Kislitsa as saying.
Russia has repeatedly stated its readiness to continue negotiations with Ukraine and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated this in early September. The Russian top diplomat emphasized that the diplomatic settlement of the crisis in Ukraine remained a priority for Russia and the sides achieved some progress in this regard during three rounds of direct negotiations earlier in the year.
Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Second Department of CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told TASS earlier in the day that Russia is willing to resume the negotiation process in Istanbul with Ukraine, and the ball is in Ukraine’s court.
The first round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul on May 16, where the sides agreed on exchanging prisoners on the "1,000 for 1,000" formula and submitting memorandums on the aspects of overcoming the crisis.
