The world is waiting for today's meeting to resolve the Ukrainian crisis in Istanbul, proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It could be the first direct contact between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine since March 2022, when negotiators from Moscow and Kiev held a dialogue at the Dolmabahçe Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus.
The Russian delegation will again be led by the advisor to the Russian President Vladimir Medinsky. As in 2022, he will be joined by Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be represented in the negotiating group by Deputy Minister Mikhail Galuzin, who is responsible for the CIS. The delegation also includes Igor Kostyukov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to hold working meetings on Thursday, the Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry Peskov announced.
“Working meetings with the president are planned“, Peskov told Yunashev Live in response to a request to reveal the president's work schedule for May 15.
The Kremlin did not announce any other events on Putin's schedule for Thursday.
In addition to Turkey as the host, high-ranking American officials will also be present in Istanbul - Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Special Representative for the US President Stephen Witkoff and US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. Trump did not rule out the possibility of flying to Istanbul himself, "if it would be useful for the negotiations".
On the night of May 10-11, Putin proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine from May 15 in Istanbul. "We propose to start negotiations without delay, next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul. Where they were held earlier and where they were interrupted", the Russian leader emphasized.
Putin's proposal implies resuming negotiations "without any additional conditions". The president also noted that the Turkish side has done a lot to organize the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
As a first reaction, Volodymyr Zelensky requested confirmation from the Russian side of a "full-fledged, long-term and reliable" ceasefire, effective from May 12. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that Kiev probably “didn’t read the transcript well” of what the Russian leader said.
Following Trump’s call to immediately agree to the negotiations proposed by Putin, Zelensky added that he was ready for the meeting in Istanbul. He reiterated the condition for a ceasefire and noted that he would personally wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey.
At the same time, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council establishing the impossibility of negotiations with Putin, which Zelensky announced in force on October 4, 2022, is still in force in Ukraine. On May 13, Zelensky stated that the decree banning negotiations with Russia does not apply to him.
Very little is known about the content of the planned negotiations. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov explained that the topics of the Istanbul meeting will cover issues related to a sustainable settlement of the conflict and the realities on the ground, including the issue of territories. “It is too early to make predictions“, the diplomat stressed, adding that “much will depend on the position of Kiev's Western sponsors“.
Earlier, European countries announced new sanctions against Russia, and French President Emmanuel Macron called the Russian initiative “insufficient and unacceptable“. Zakharova, assessing Europe's request for a ceasefire, stressed that they are striving for a 30-day ceasefire “to give Kiev time to restore its military potential and continue the confrontation with Russia“.
The Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador Rodion Miroshnik believes that the text agreed upon in Istanbul in 2022 by Russian and Ukrainian representatives could become an option for resolving the conflict, taking into account the "corrections" of the last three years.