OMSK, Russia July 25 (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Saturday that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine might be reached if the sides froze the conflict and resumed negotiations.
Speaking alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russia-Kazakhstan forum in the Siberian city of Omsk, Tokayev praised Putin’s “utmost diplomatic flexibility.”
“If I may offer my humble opinion, since I have been asked, perhaps it is time to freeze this conflict and return to the Istanbul formula 2.0,” he said.
Moscow and Kyiv participated in talks in Istanbul soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022 and again in 2025, though the discussions failed to produce a breakthrough.
“With (security) guarantees from the great powers, including Russia, we could move forward toward a long-awaited peace,” Tokayev said. “This must be brought to an end.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the state TASS news agency, said Putin outlined to Tokayev in detail the current state of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
He quoted the Kremlin leader as saying that “freezing the conflict as such is impossible, given Kyiv’s position” and that military action could be halted today if Kyiv adopted appropriate decisions.
Putin said last month that Russia’s stand for clinching a peace deal with Ukraine remained a demand that Ukraine withdraw from four regions Moscow says are its own and publicly drop its plans to join NATO.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Alessandra Prentice and Ron Popeski; Editing by David Gregorio)
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