On the 5th, Russian President Putin said that he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine, which is under attack, based on a ceasefire agreement that was reportedly close to being finalized in Istanbul, Turkey at the end of March 2022. He was responding to a question from the moderator at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, Russia’s far east.

Putin reiterated his previous position that “Russia has never refused to negotiate,” but insisted that any negotiations would be “based not on phantom demands, but on the documents that were agreed and practically signed in Istanbul.”

The March 2022 ceasefire proposal has not been made public, but it is said to have included a requirement that Ukraine give up its NATO membership, as demanded by Russia, in exchange for security guarantees for Ukraine from the countries involved.