Delegations from Russia and Ukraine have gathered in Türkiye’s capital Istanbul to hold peace negiotiations aimed at ending a 3-year long war.
The Russian delegation is led by Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Chief of the General Staff’s Main Directorate Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, and other experts, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is leading the Ukrainian delegation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Ankara earlier Thursday.
According to Medinsky the leader of the Russian delegation, his team has full authority to discuss all necessary matters to resolve the conflict.
“The goal of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is to achieve long-term peace,” Medinsky said, urging a constructive approach to find common ground.
Medinsky previously led failed talks in 2022 and has questioned Ukraine’s right to exist.
Trilateral talks are planned between the U.S., Ukraine and Türkiye, as well as between Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye, the sources added.
It remains unclear whether a four-way meeting involving the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye will take place.
Russia and Ukraine were expected to meet Thursday at the palace on the Bosphorus for their first direct peace negotiations in more than three years.
However, as the day progressed with no confirmation of timing, it remained unclear whether the talks would be held later Thursday or postponed until Friday.
If all goes well, the successful negotiations are expected to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Russian forces currently occupy about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Istanbul talks ‘intriguing’ – Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a meeting of the Diplomatic Club that the situation surrounding the Istanbul talks on Ukraine is intriguing.
“Everyone, of course, is talking about Ukraine right now due to the intrigue that is unfolding in Istanbul,” Lavrov said.
There are no guarantees that the talks on Ukraine will go smoothly and without obstacles: “On the contrary, the problems are bound to happen, as it was three years ago in Istanbul, when the formalized principles were ready to be put on the contract paper, but the British forbade the Kiev regime to continue this process, which could have resulted in a settlement.”
The West has “in the last 3-4 days somehow pushed the word ‘ceasefire’ into the background.”
There is “a lot of evidence that neither Berlin, nor Paris, nor Brussels, nor especially London really want any peace in Ukraine at all.”
The UK, amid the talks in Istanbul, acts “like a guide” for Vladimir Zelensky “through the jungle of global politics:” “A national security adviser to the British prime minister has already been assigned to Zelensky so that he doesn’t say anything wrong and doesn’t finally bury his reputation along with the image of those who handle him.”
Zelensky is a “pathetic person:” “It’s clear to everyone, except, perhaps, for him and his mentors.”
The Kiev regime’s Western handlers should not only advise but also insist that Ukraine repeal laws that violate the UN Charter: “That would bring a result.”
European countries favor Nazism, ignoring human rights violations in Ukraine: “Europe is in favor of Nazism, because Nazism is flourishing in Ukraine. It is also legitimized by holidays devoted to collaborators who fought for Hitler’s Germany.”
Russia’s position is to “ensure a long-term durable settlement that fairly reflects the interests of all parties involved.”
The presence of foreign military forces in Ukraine is unacceptable.
West’s policy
Western countries want to achieve Russia’s strategic defeat on the battlefield because they don’t like its stance on the international stage: “I guess they don’t like the fact that Russia is independent.”
Macron’s statements
French President Emmanuel Macron’s remark that Russia “refused to implement” the Minsk agreements is a lie: “Even what happened a few years ago, when his predecessor (former French President Francois Hollande – Taarifa) admitted that he was not going to implement anything [on the Minsk agreements], turns these remarks upside down.”
The French leader’s words on the Ukrainian crisis “are beyond understanding.”
Relations with US
Moscow is not opposed to building mutually beneficial cooperation with Washington in the economic sphere, and US President Donald Trump has also confirmed his interest in this: “Of course, we will not do it to the detriment of Russian business, but nevertheless we are ready for it.”