Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reported proposal to freeze the war in Ukraine according to the current front lines, as reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, is unacceptable to Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, European Pravda reported, citing Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Peskov dismissed the reported proposal, describing it as “a priori unacceptable to the Russian side.”
According to Interfax, Peskov clarified that there had been no talks between Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin about such a plan.
Bloomberg had reported that Erdoğan intends to present a peace initiative aimed at freezing hostilities along existing battle lines at the upcoming the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The proposal reportedly includes a 10-year postponement of talks on Ukraine’s NATO membership and the establishment of a demilitarized zone in the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has exercised control over a significant area since 2014.
The plan also apparently proposes deploying international troops to monitor the area and providing Ukraine with military aid as a concession for giving up its NATO ambitions.
The Bloomberg report coincided with other diplomatic moves ahead of the G20 summit, where international efforts to negotiate an end to the nearly 1,000-day conflict between Russia and Ukraine are gaining urgency.
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, allies of US President-elect Donald Trump are considering a similar approach, proposing to freeze the front lines and impose a 20-year moratorium on Ukraine’s NATO membership.
Turkey, which has relations with both Moscow and Kyiv, has acted as a mediator in the past, facilitating grain export agreements and prisoner exchanges. Although Ankara opposes the Russian invasion, it has also resisted Western sanctions against Moscow.
The pro-government Turkish news website Daily Sabah cited Turkish Foreign Ministry sources who denied Bloomberg’s claim and said Ankara had not proposed postponing Ukraine’s NATO membership.
At the G20 summit, a possible Erdoğan’s proposal could find an atmosphere of broader international pressure for peace talks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have urged Putin to start negotiations.
Meanwhile, the US authorized Ukrainian use of US-supplied long-range missile strikes on Russian territory after North Korea reportedly sent troops to support Moscow. This development further complicates the conflict.
Despite these diplomatic efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to advocate NATO membership and clear security guarantees. However, the Kremlin insists that any peace agreement must respect its security concerns and territorial gains.
Erdoğan’s reported proposal reflects the growing international recognition of the stalemate of the war, in which neither side has been able to achieve decisive military victories.
However, it faces significant obstacles as Ukraine remains unwavering in its pursuit of NATO membership and its desire to reclaim its occupied territories and remain independent. For Russia, the proposal to freeze the conflict without recognizing its territorial claims is a non-starter.