MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has publicly accused the Ukrainian side of disrupting the latest agreements on prisoner exchanges, claiming that Kyiv has fulfilled less than 30% of its promise to exchange 1,200 individuals.
Zakharova made the statement on her Telegram channel in response to a quote by Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa, who had suggested in a Times article that it was impossible to hold “creative discussions” at the Istanbul talks.
Zakharova confirmed the Russian position on the nature of the talks, countering Kislitsa’s phrase: “I confirm this. No one was going to hold ‘creative discussions’ with them. Specific proposals were made, in particular on prisoner exchanges,” she wrote.
She then placed the blame for the stalled exchange process squarely on the Ukrainian government: “The Kiev regime has broken its latest promises on prisoner exchanges — less than 30% of the agreed-upon 1,200 have been exchanged.”
The comments reinforce earlier statements from Russian diplomats regarding the broader state of peace talks.
Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, previously told TASS that Russia remains ready to resume negotiations in Istanbul, stating that the ball is currently in Ukraine’s court. Polishchuk noted that Kyiv had “put the negotiations on hold” despite repeated calls for their resumption by Turkish representatives.
The two countries have conducted several rounds of talks in Istanbul, mediated by Turkey, with prisoner exchange agreements being one of the few tangible results. However, both sides have frequently accused the other of slowing down or politicizing the exchange process.