The Russian delegation announces some results of the Istanbul negotiations What are the most prominent ones?

The reveal of the chief Russian negotiator reveals the most important results he reached with the Ukrainian delegation during the talks hosted by Istanbul, and indicates that the two parties have taken important steps at the political and military levels.

Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, announced that Moscow had taken two steps towards rapprochement with Ukraine regarding the political and military aspects, according to statements quoted by the official "Russia Today" channel, at the conclusion of today's round of negotiations held in Istanbul.

Regarding the political aspect, Medinsky stressed the difficulty of holding a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, after reaching an agreement between the two countries in all its details, but the possibility of holding it, in conjunction with the initialing of the two countries' foreign ministers, exists.

With regard to the military aspect, the other member of the Russian delegation, Alexander Fomin, Deputy Russian Defense Minister, said that his ministry decided to "drastically" reduce military activity on the Kyiv and Chernigov axes (northern Ukraine) with the aim of enhancing mutual trust and creating the appropriate conditions for continuing negotiations and reaching the desired agreement.

Medinsky also reported that his delegation had received a package of written proposals from the Ukrainian delegation during the negotiations, including the following:

1. Declare Ukraine a neutral, non-nuclear state outside of any alliances on a permanent basis under international legal safeguards, and a list of guarantor states is provided.

2. Security guarantees do not apply to the territory of the Crimea and Donbass, i.e. Ukraine abandons the attempt to restore it by military means. Medinsky pointed out that this proposal reflects Kyiv's position and does not correspond to Moscow's position, given that it does not consider Crimea and Donbass to be part of the Ukrainian territory.

3. Ukraine's abstention from joining military alliances, deploying foreign military bases and units and hosting military exercises without the consent of the guarantor states, including Russia.

4. Russia does not oppose Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

Medinsky called Ukraine's proposals a "constructive step towards a compromise", adding that Russia would study them.

On February 24, Russia launched extensive military operations in Ukraine, which were followed by angry international reactions and the imposition of "tough" economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.

Russia requires Ukraine to abandon any plans to join military entities, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "NATO", and to maintain complete neutrality, which Kyiv considers an "interference in its sovereignty" to end the operation.