MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday that there was a pause in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and accused European countries of hindering a process it said that Moscow remained open to.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held three rounds of direct talks this year in Istanbul, most recently on July 23, which have yielded several agreements to return prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead. But the two sides remain far apart on what a possible peace deal might look like.
Russia accuses Kyiv of not recognising what it calls "the realities on the ground", while Ukraine says Moscow is feigning interest in talks while continuing to try to take more of its territory.
Efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a deal have so far come to nothing.
Asked whether talks between Kyiv and Moscow were now deadlocked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The channels of communication are in place and functioning. Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through these channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to say that there is a pause."
Moscow has bridled against proposals by European countries and Britain to provide security guarantees to Ukraine that might involve deploying NATO troops on the ground after any peace settlement, saying it could not accept such a move.
Peskov blamed the pause in talks on such ideas.
"The Russian side remains ready to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue. But the fact that the Europeans are hindering this is indeed true. This is not a secret to anyone," he said.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Mark Trevelyan)
