Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Usakov said several countries have already offered to host talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump, although he declined to name them.

Trump has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine quickly, though he has yet to publicly outline how he plans to do so. Putin said on Thursday that he is ready to compromise on Ukraine in possible talks with Trump and has not set any conditions for opening talks with Ukrainian authorities.

But Putin said any talks would have to take as a starting point the preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first weeks of the war in Istanbul during talks in Istanbul, which were never reached.

Many Ukrainian politicians see the draft deal as tantamount to a capitulation that would castrate Ukraine’s military and political ambitions, and say they do not believe Putin is ready to strike a deal that would be acceptable to Kiev.

North Korean soldiers will parade in Red Square

Usakov also said he considered it possible that North Korean soldiers would take part in next year’s Moscow Red Square parade commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Ukraine says North Korean soldiers have been fighting alongside Russia against Ukrainian troops trying to hold territory in Russia’s Kursk region.

Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops on its soil.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty” during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June. The pact includes a mutual defense pact for immediate military assistance should either face an armed attack.

Moscow is in contact with the new Syrian authorities at the military and diplomatic level

Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, referring to the situation in Syria, said that Russia is in contact with the new Islamist-led Syrian government both diplomatically and militarily.

Russia granted asylum to former president Bashar al-Assad and his family this month after rebels seized control of Damascus after a lightning-quick and largely unmolested advance.

Moscow has previously said it is in talks over the fate of a naval facility operating in the port of Tartus and the Khmeimim airbase operating in Latakia province.