Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had become softer and more open to negotiations on the situation in Ukriane.

Peskov stressed that Putin was open to negotiations from the very beginning and repeatedly said so.

"Putin tried to initiate negotiations with both NATO and the United States, and with the OSCE before the special operation. He was open to negotiations when the text of the document between the Russian and Ukrainian negotiations was practically agreed upon," the spokesman pointed out.

According to him, only the position of the Ukrainian side has changed, which codified the topic of not continuing negotiations with Russia.

Peskov also noted that Erdogan's stated phone negotiations were not yet in the Russian leader's schedule, but the presidents already often hold talks that are sometimes agreed in a matter of hours.