The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that it plans to send the same delegation to Istanbul for the second round of negotiations with Ukraine as before.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said this on 29 May.
The day before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia had offered Ukraine to meet for the second round of negotiations in Istanbul next Monday, 2 June. Lavrov also said that the Russian side had allegedly finalised the so-called memorandum on a peace treaty with Ukraine, which will be presented at the meeting by Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
The Kremlin refused to hand Ukraine its terms for the Istanbul talks, which were criticised in Kiev. In particular, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that this showed the Kremlin’s desire to make the talks “empty”. Ukraine has not yet officially agreed to the meeting proposed by Russia on 2 June.
On 16 May, talks between Ukraine and the Russian Federation were held in Istanbul. The Russian delegation was headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky. Along with him, Putin sent Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Ihor Kostyukov, Deputy Defence Minister Aleksandr Fomin and four “experts” to the talks.
The sides failed to make significant progress, but a prisoner exchange in the format of one thousand to one thousand was agreed at that time. The last stage of the exchange ended on 25 May.
Both sides sat down at the negotiating table for the first time in three years. Ukraine demanded a 30-day cease-fire. However, the Russian side has still not given up its territorial encroachments – Moscow calls recognition of its sovereignty over four Ukrainian regions, none of which its forces fully control, a condition for starting discussions on a ceasefire.