Russia says Kyiv's position on peace talks 'irreconcilable'

MOSCOW

Kyiv's position to resolve the Ukraine conflict is "irreconcilable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Speaking at a press briefing in St. Petersburg, Peskov said Russia, which launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine last year in February, however, remains open to finding a peaceful solution.

"Although Russia remains open to negotiations in order to achieve its goals, despite the rather difficult situation which the Ukrainian side is now in, they still have not changed anything. They reject the possibility of any negotiations," he said.

Asked about the African peace initiative on Ukraine, Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue dialogue with the continent's leaders on the matter.

The spokesman also announced that Moscow plans to hold the third Russia-Africa Summit in the future, the dates of which will be announced later.

"It is obvious that the pace of development of cooperation (between Russia and Africa) will somehow lead us to the early determination of the dates of the next summit," he said.

The first Russia-Africa summit was held in Russia's resort city of Sochi in 2019, while the second one started in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Turning to a forthcoming meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the US, Peskov urged to wait for an official announcement on Russia's participation.

"Firstly, this is still quite far away, we have many important events, including at the highest level. This is the first. And secondly, this, of course, is not the invitation that we will be waiting for, obviously," he said.

Matt Murray, a senior US official for APEC, told a media briefing in Singapore on Monday that Russia will be invited to the APEC in San-Francisco next year, despite existing bilateral tensions.