Russia says it welcomes Iran ceasefire, hopes US will now resume Ukraine talks

MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and ​Iran, and said Russia hopes that the U.S. will ‌now have the time and scope to resume three-way peace talks on Ukraine.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman ​Dmitry Peskov said: “We received the news of ​a truce with satisfaction. We welcome the ⁠decision not to proceed further down the path ​of armed escalation.”

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Asked about whether the Iran ceasefire may ​facilitate fresh talks on Ukraine, Peskov said: “We hope that, in the foreseeable future, (the U.S.) will have more time and greater ​opportunity to meet in a trilateral format,” referring ​to talks held between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S.

Russia had ‌previously ⁠said that Ukraine peace talks had been paused after the outbreak of hostilities in Iran.

Negotiations began last year in Istanbul and three-way talks with the ​U.S. were held ​at the ⁠start of this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva.

But progress has been slow, ​in large part because of an ​impasse ⁠over territory. Russia demands that Ukraine give up the remainder of its Donbas region but Kyiv refuses to ⁠surrender ​land that Moscow’s forces have ​failed to capture in more than four years of war.

Reporting by ​Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Felix Light, Editing by Mark Trevelyan

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