Putin appoints aide Medinsky to lead Istanbul talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a delegation of senior officials to participate in this week’s negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, according to a directive published on the Kremlin's website Wednesday night.
Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led previous rounds of failed negotiations with Ukraine in early 2022, was named head of the Russian delegation. He will be joined by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), News.Az reports citing The Moscow Times.
The order also names a group of expert advisers, including senior officials from the Foreign and Defense Ministries and the presidential administration.
Moscow had previously hesitated to confirm delegates for the negotiations in Istanbul, which Putin proposed over the weekend as a counteroffer to Western-backed calls for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later challenged the Russian leader to meet with him in person during the talks, arguing that it would show whether Moscow was ready to negotiate in good faith.
The Kremlin directive published Wednesday did not list Putin among the officials who will take part in the negotiations, and top spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refused to say whether the president will travel to Turkey.
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