The Kremlin has downplayed talk of progress in peace talks with Ukraine to end Moscow's attack on its neighbor, saying there was nothing "too promising" in the results of a round of discussions in Istanbul.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow a day after the talks on March 30 that, while it was encouraging that Kyiv had started to outline its positions more concretely, "we cannot state that there was anything too promising or any breakthroughs."
"There is a lot of work to be done," he added.
Russia's main negotiator in the talks, Vladimir Medinsky, had described the Istanbul meeting, the first face-to-face talks between the two sides in more than two weeks, as "meaningful."
Optimism that Russia and Ukraine were making progress was further fueled by Moscow's announcement that it would scale back attacks on Kyiv and in northern Ukraine "to build trust."
Kyiv said it has proposed that Ukraine adopt neutral status -- including a pledge not to host foreign troops -- in exchange for international security guarantees.
It also proposed a 15-year consultation period on the status of the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine and illegally annexed in 2014.
Peskov bristled at the mention of the Crimean proposal, saying it was part of Russia and that only Russia could decide the peninsula's fate.