MOSCOW, May  19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said
Monday he had agreed with US leader Donald Trump that Moscow will propose a
"memorandum" worked on with Ukraine outlining positions for a "possible" future
peace deal.

 Putin made the comment after speaking to Trump by phone in a call he said
lasted more than two hours.

 The Russian leader said Istanbul talks last week between Moscow and Kyiv
put the world on the "right path" towards ending the conflict -- which began
with Moscow's full-scale 2022 offensive.

"Russia will propose and will be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a
memorandum on a possible future peace agreement defining a range of positions,"
Putin told Russian media after his call with Trump.

 He said the document could outline "the principles of settlement, the
timing of a possible peace agreement and so on -- including a possible
ceasefire for a certain period of time if appropriate agreements are reached".

 Putin gave no more details on the "memorandum".

 Ukraine and its Western allies have pressured Russia to agree to a
ceasefire, which Moscow has so far resisted.

Putin thanked Trump for enabling the first direct talks between Kyiv and
Moscow in more than three years.

 "Contact between participants of the meeting and negotiations in Istanbul
-- this contact was restarted and it gives us the basis to think that on the
whole we are on the right path," Putin said.

 He said both Moscow and Kyiv should show "maximum" effort to find
"compromises that would suit all sides".

Putin described his call with Trump as "very useful."