MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the composition of
the Russian delegation for upcoming talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey,
according to a Kremlin statement.
The delegation will be led by Russian Presidential Aide
Vladimir Medinsky and include Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin; Igor Kostyukov,
chief of the main directorate of the general staff of the Russian army; and
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, Xinhua news agency reported.
Apart from the delegation members, a list of four experts
was also approved for the talks.
Putin also appointed experts to help with the talks. The
list includes Alexander Zorin, first deputy head of the information department
at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces; Yelena Podobreyevskaya,
deputy head of the Presidential Directorate for State Policy in the
Humanitarian Area; Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Second Department of CIS
countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry; and Viktor Shevtsov, deputy head of
the Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation at the Russian Defence
Ministry.
According to Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov, Moscow and Kyiv
on May 15 will resume the talks that they held in 2022 -- before they were
suspended at the suggestion of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Russian delegation heading to Istanbul plans to
discuss both technical and political issues.
In a statement last Sunday, Putin proposed the resumption
of direct negotiations with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said he would
be in Turkey on Thursday and expected to meet Putin.
"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and
then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from
them in the media are unconvincing," Zelensky wrote in his social media
platform late Wednesday night.
The Russian delegation will address political and
technical issues at talks in Istanbul, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov
said on Wednesday, reported Xinhua news agency.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that
Russia's delegation will be in Istanbul on Thursday and Moscow will announce
the names of its negotiators once Putin decides.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with
his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha on Wednesday in Turkey's city of
Antalya before the upcoming Russia-Ukraine peace talks scheduled in Istanbul.
According to a report by Turkey's state-run Anadolu
Agency, Fidan told Sybiha that Turkey is ready to provide all kinds of support,
including holding talks, to help achieve peace.
After the meeting, Sybiha wrote on the social media
platform X that he and Fidan thoroughly discussed ways to advance a
"meaningful peace process".
"I reaffirmed Ukraine's commitment to peace, our immediate
and unconditional readiness for a full and durable ceasefire, as well as our
offer of the highest-level direct meeting between Ukraine and Russia," he
wrote.
