The Kremlin said on Saturday thatRussian President Vladimir Putin could meetUkraine'sVolodymyr Zelensky in the future, but only if certain agreements were reached.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not specify what agreements would be required fromRussia's point of view.
Putin and Zelensky have not met since December 2019.Zelensky had challenged the Kremlin leader to meet with him in Turkey this week, but Putin instead sent a team of aides and officials to meet Ukrainian negotiators on Friday for the first directtalkssince March 2022.Ukraine said it had raised the issue of a Putin-Zelensky meeting during those talks.Peskov saidRussiaconsidered a meeting between the two leaders possible, but only after work between the two sides has "achieved certain results in the form of agreements."He added: "At the same time, when signing documents that the delegations are to agree upon, the main and fundamental thing for us remains who exactly will sign these documents from the Ukrainian side."Peskov did not elaborate on that remark.
Putin has previously challenged Zelensky's legitimacy as president because his term in office was supposed to have expired last year.Ukraine, under martial law as it defends itself againstRussia, has not set a date for a new election.