Negotiations with Kiev paused, Ukraine not responding to Russia's proposals - Peskov

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The Istanbul negotiating process with Kiev has been paused, as Ukraine is not responding to proposals, but the Anchorage peace impetus remains in existence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"On one hand, we are observing a pause in the negotiating process, i.e. the Istanbul negotiating process has been paused. It has been paused because of the reluctance of the Kiev regime to answer the questions we have asked in any way," Peskov said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, author and presenter of the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program of the Rossiya 1 television channel (VGTRK). Zarubin published in the interview on Telegram.

Kiev is not responding to the submitted draft document or the Russian proposal to set up three working groups, which is the homework that needs to be done before a summit, Peskov said.

"On one hand, it is paused, but, considering that we still aspire to make progress towards a peaceful settlement, we can say that the impetus remains in existence, it exists, and we are hoping that it will continue to exist and that President Trump still has the political will for a peaceful settlement," Peskov said.

He thus answered a question whether the impetus given in Anchorage had been lost.

"In this case, we are optimistic about the spirit of Anchorage but have to say things have not been going very well so far from the angle of the Kiev regime's conduct. On the other hand, this is explained by the fact that the Kiev regime is being pushed into this position by the Europeans, who have taken a hard-to-explain, rabid, militaristic stance against this background," he said.

"The Kiev regime is unaware that its negotiating position is worsening day after day," Peskov said.