Despite this big step back on what constituted the only diplomatic 'positive' of the past months between the warring sides, Putin office spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel that talks with the United States remain possible if Washington "pays heed to our concerns."

Such an opening in negotiations related to the war in Ukraine would ultimately be contingent on "the US desire to go back to the state of things as of December-January" Peskov described, and the US must ask, according to his words: "what the Russians are offering may not suit all of us, but maybe we should still sit down with them at the negotiating table?"