MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has left without comment the rumors Ukraine had allegedly handed over to Russia via Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a list of held persons to be exchanged.
"I will leave this report without a comment," Peskov said.
"The problem of verification is an old one. It has not been resolved to this day. It has been and still remains part and parcel of the general set of issues and problems that exist between us," he said.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Friday that Kiev had handed to Moscow via the Turkish leader a list of 450 Ukrainian citizens, allegedly kept in custody in Donbass and Russia, and was now waiting for Moscow’s reply.
Also, Peskov refused to comment on Reuters reports quoting sources as saying that Erdogan had allegedly invited the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to hold a Russia-Turkey-Ukraine summit on Donbass.
"Where does this information come from? I never make comments on sources," he said.
Erdogan reportedly told Turkish correspondents during a flight back home from Turkmenistan that Turkey counted on a role in settling the crisis between Russia and Ukraine and was going to continue discussions of this issue with Moscow and Kiev.
"We are for peace in the region, in the first place, when it comes to Crimea’ Turks. We have repeatedly discussed these questions with friendly Russia and with Mr. Putin. We wish to see this region stop being a war-ravaged territory. May peace reign on this territory in the future. We wish to develop relations regarding this issue in a positive vein," he is quoted by the daily Yeni Safak as saying.
Asked if such a summit was a theoretical possibility, Peskov said: "The point is Russia is not a party to the Donbass conflict. It will be impossible to find a solution to this problem at such a summit. The parties to the conflict are Kiev, on the one, hand and the self-proclaimed republics, on the other."
