MOSCOW: The Kremlin left President Vladimir Putin off its checklist for talks in Turkiye on Thursday (Might 15) with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as a substitute naming a lower-level workforce for the primary direct Russia-Ukraine contacts on their battle in additional than three years.
Zelenskyy had challenged Putin to fulfill him in particular person on the talks, with US President Donald Trump also appearing to urge the Kremlin leader to come back to the negotiating desk.
The Istanbul negotiations can be the primary direct peace talks since discussions within the first weeks of the battle broke down and not using a deal.
After days of declining to say if Putin would go, the Kremlin named its negotiating workforce late on Wednesday.
The Russian facet can be headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to Putin and ex-culture minister who was concerned in 2022 negotiations.
Putin, International Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin international coverage aide Yuri Ushakov, who had all been rumoured as high negotiators after main earlier talks with the US, weren’t named within the delegation.
Zelenskyy mentioned this week that Putin’s absence can be a transparent sign that he was not genuinely enthusiastic about peace.
“I’m ready to see who will arrive from Russia. Then I’ll resolve what steps Ukraine ought to take,” Zelenskyy mentioned Wednesday.
