TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025
Putin approves Russian delegation for talks with Ukraine in Istanbul
Published on May 15, 2025
By IANS
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Apart from the delegation members, a list of four experts was also approved for the talks.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- The Russian delegation heading to Istanbul plans to discuss both technical and political issues.
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- In a statement last Sunday, Putin proposed the resumption of direct negotiations with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul.
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- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said he would be in Turkey on Thursday and expected to meet Putin.
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- "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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- After the meeting, Sybiha wrote on the social media platform X that he and Fidan thoroughly discussed ways to advance a "meaningful peace process".
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- "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.
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