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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on March 20 that Ukraine and Russia were close to reaching an agreement on “critical” issues, adding that he hoped for a ceasefire if both sides did not withdraw from the progress made so far. .
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, and Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “special military operation” aimed at disarming Ukraine and clearing the country of “dangerous nationalists.” But the West and Ukraine have said Putin has launched an unprovoked war.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Antalya, Turkey earlier this month. But the discussions have not yet yielded any concrete results.
But Cavusoglu, who had been present at the talks between Russian and Ukrainian top diplomats, told the Turkish daily Hurriyet that there had been “convergence of positions on both sides on important issues, on critical issues”.
“We can say that we have hope for a ceasefire, if both sides do not take steps back from the current positions,” he said, without giving details on what issues are at stake.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Turkish Presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, told al Jazeera television that the two sides have aligned their positions on four key issues. He cited Russian demands for Ukraine to abandon NATO membership ambitions, demilitarization, what Russia has called “denazification” and the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine.
Ukraine and the West have dismissed Russian references to “neo-Nazis” when referring to democratically elected Ukrainian leadership. Kalin said such references are offensive to Kiev.
Kiev and Moscow have reportedly made progress during talks last week on a formula that would guarantee Ukraine’s security, keeping NATO out.
Kalin said a permanent ceasefire agreement could only be reached in a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But he said Putin thought positions on “strategic issues” for Crimea and Donbas were not converged enough to hold a meeting.
Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and has supported separatists in eastern Ukraine in the fight against Ukrainian forces.
Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia, has good relations with the two countries and is trying to mediate peace talks.
Turkey has expressed support for Ukraine, but has refused to apply Western sanctions on Moscow.
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