The Kremlin said on Monday that the issue of territory remained fundamental to Russia when it came to getting a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, the state TASS news agency reported after trilateral weekend talks.
“It’s no secret that this is our consistent position, the position of our president, that the territorial issue, which is part of the Anchorage formula, is of fundamental importance to the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS state news agency.
The “Anchorage formula” refers to what Russia says was agreed between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska last August, according to a source close to the Kremlin.
That agreement, according to the same source, envisages Ukraine handing Russia control of all of Donbas and freezing the front lines elsewhere in Ukraine’s east and south as a condition of any future peace deal.
State news agency RIA cited Peskov as saying that Moscow positively assessed what he called the “constructive talks” in the latest round.
The talks, brokered by the United States, ended without a deal, but with more talks are expected next weekend.
