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.
Russia and Ukraine 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 said Putin outlined to Tokayev in detail the current state of Russia‘s military operations in Ukraine.
Peskov 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 would continue to demand that Ukraine withdraw from four regions Russia says are its own and publicly drop its plans to join NATO as conditions for peace.
