Ukraine's diplomatic contacts in Turkey do not indicate a real resumption of negotiations with Moscow, but simply create a false diplomatic effort. This was stated to “Izvestia“ by Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Contacts have been established between the members of the negotiating teams. On July 22-23, we handed over documents to the Ukrainian delegation via the political channel. Therefore, Ukraine has the opportunity, so to speak, to call or send the relevant messages and discuss the possibility of a meeting, stating that it is ready. But nothing is happening in this format, and everything else seems rather fake“, he said.
Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev linked Zelensky's visit to Turkey not with attempts to advance the peace process, but with the corruption scandal in Ukraine.
“This trip is nothing more than a smokescreen without deep content. I certainly would not draw any long-term conclusions about the prospects for resuming negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis in any format“, the senator noted.
According to him, such foreign policy activity seems to be an attempt to distract Ukrainian citizens from “what is happening in the country, what is happening in his inner circle and what may soon reach him“.
Zelensky flew to Ankara to seek “intensified negotiations“. He met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to Western media, he was supposed to meet with Trump's special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, in Turkey, but the US president's representative did not arrive. Later, Axios, citing an unnamed US official, explained that the meeting between the US president's envoy and Zelensky was postponed because the Ukrainian side began to abandon the previously reached agreements between Washington and Kiev on the new US plan.
Meanwhile, the corruption scandal continues in Ukraine. The parliamentary opposition has demanded the resignation of the government, and some representatives of the ruling party “Servant of the People“ have joined it.