Russian President Vladimir Putin took questions from representatives of leading BRICS media outlets at the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow on Friday. This comes ahead of the BRICS Summit, which will be held next week in Russia's Kazan. Putin answered queries on topics ranging from economy, politics and culture to education and technology. 

Addressing a question on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin said that Moscow remains ready for peace talks. He reiterated his stance that the basis for future talks should be agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 that eventually fell through. He also warned that any attempt to develop nuclear weapons by Ukraine would be regarded as a dangerous provocation.