The document will include “conditions for a lasting comprehensive settlement” of the Ukraine conflict, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said
Russia will be ready to present its draft peace proposal to Ukraine by the time the two sides complete their latest military and civilian POWs swap, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Moscow is “actively working” on a document in line with what was agreed during the Istanbul talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators last week, according to the minister.
Preparing and presenting draft peace proposals was one of two major milestones achieved by Moscow and Kiev during the Istanbul meeting – the first direct negotiations between the two warring parties since 2022, when Ukraine unilaterally walked away from the negotiating table. The second was a major prisoner swap involving 1,000 POWs from each side, which started on Friday. Moscow and Kiev expect the exchange to continue over the weekend.
Russia’s peace proposal would include “conditions for reaching a sustainable, lasting comprehensive agreement on the [peace] settlement,” Lavrov said.
“As soon as the prisoner swap is over, we will be ready to hand over this draft document to the Ukrainian side,” the minister told journalists on Friday, adding that the proposal is “currently being finalized.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he had agreed with US President Donald Trump that the next move toward resolving the Ukraine conflict should be a memorandum outlining the principles and timeline for a peace settlement. The American leader has been pushing Moscow and Kiev towards resolving the Ukraine conflict since taking office in January, and has recently urged them to engage in direct talks.
In Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian delegations agreed to resume contacts once each side presents a draft peace deal. Speaking at a conference in Moscow earlier on Friday, Lavrov said that the timeframe for the next meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations had “not yet been determined.”
According to media reports on the talks, Kiev allegedly reiterated its demands for an immediate ceasefire, which the Russian side declined. Moscow has repeatedly cited concerns that a pause would be exploited by Ukraine to rearm and regroup its forces. Russia has stated that it prefers a lasting settlement addressing the root causes of the conflict to a temporary truce.
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