\Negotiation channels between Russia and Ukraine remain formally open but the Kremlin has put talks on hold, as prospects for renewed diplomatic engagement appear remote. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 12, Vedomosti reports.

“Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through these channels. But for now, it is probably more appropriate to talk about a pause,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said during a briefing, according to Vedomosti.

While technical contact remains possible, active dialogue between the two sides has stalled. Peskov's comments come days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled scepticism about restarting talks with Kyiv during remarks at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

At the forum on September 5, Putin stated he was prepared for contacts with the Ukrainian side but saw “no point” in engaging at this time. He questioned whether Ukraine had the “political will” to reach an agreement and criticised Kyiv’s proposal to determine the location of any future talks. “Their offer to come to the place they named for negotiations is excessive,” he said.

Trump has also watered down his position on talks. In He was the one that introduced the idea of a unconditional ceasefire in February, but after his meeting with Putin called for a switch to the more difficult, but more permanent peace talks, backed by Putin. On September 11 he switched again and went back to the idea of a ceasefire as talks were going so badly, UBN reports.

Putin offered to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Moscow, but Bankova (Ukraine’s equivalent of the Kremlin) rejected that suggestion out of hand. Zelenskiy responded by inviting Putin to Kyiv, an offer that he knew would be rejected. At the time seven counties had offered to host a meeting, many of them that would qualify as neutral ground, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey that have already hosted bilateral meetings between Russian and Ukrainian officials.

Putin’s offer of a Moscow meeting was taken by his critics as evidence that the Kremlin is not serious about starting peace talks and has only made these offers as a ruse to sidetrack US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% secondary sanctions on Russia’s main trading partners.

Hopes were high that some progress towards talks was possible after Trump met Putin at the Alaska summit on August 15 and then called Putin to push for a bilateral or trilateral meeting “very soon” while he was in conference with the coalition of the willing leadership during the White House summit a few days later, but those efforts brought no results.

Putin has resisted meeting Zelenskiy until what he calls the “root causes” of the conflict have been addressed and wants to see any meeting follow the same format as the failed 2022 Istanbul peace deal. Zelenskiy has insisted that no talks of any kind can begin until an unconditional 30-day ceasefire is in place.

Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the forum that “if the level of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is raised, work in the Istanbul mode can be continued.”