The Russian side has received the Ukrainian draft of a peace agreement memorandum, TASS and Reuters reported, quoted by BTA, referring to Vladimir Medinsky - advisor to the Russian president and head of the Russian delegation at today's negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.
Earlier, the provisions of the Ukrainian document were published in Western media, and the memorandum was submitted in Ukrainian and English, TASS notes.
„The Russian delegation received its version of the peace settlement memorandum earlier from Ukraine“, confirmed Medinsky. „Everything is fine, we dealt with it. There are people in our delegation who know different languages. "If anything, two of them speak Japanese," Medinsky said, quoted by TASS.
Upon his arrival in Istanbul last night, Medinsky said that Russia would present its position on resolving the Ukrainian crisis during the meeting in Istanbul.
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine will hold a second round of direct talks today, expected to begin at 1:00 p.m. (local time) at the Ciragan Palace.
The Ukrainian delegation will be led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian delegation, as in the previous round of talks, will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The two sides last met in the Turkish metropolis in mid-May for their first direct talks since 2022. After the meeting, a major exchange of prisoners of war took place.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation with Ukraine by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, TASS reported, quoted by BTA, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.
A telephone conversation took place between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The situation related to the crisis in Ukraine was discussed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
According to the statement of the Russian Ministry, Marco Rubio expressed "his sincere condolences in connection with the civilian casualties as a result of the explosions of the railway infrastructure in the Bryansk and Kursk regions on June 1".
The Russian side emphasized that the competent authorities are conducting the most thorough investigation and the results will be published in the near future. The perpetrators will certainly be identified and will inevitably suffer the deserved punishment, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry reported that Lavrov and Rubio also exchanged views “on various initiatives related to the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, including plans to resume direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul on June 2“.