‘Delegation has left for Istanbul, and indeed, negotiations are planned for the evening,’ says spokesman
The Kremlin on Wednesday said Moscow’s delegation for renewed Russia-Ukraine peace talks departed for the Turkish metropolis Istanbul ahead of the talks scheduled to take place later in the day.
“Indeed, our delegation has left for Istanbul, and indeed, negotiations are planned for the evening,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a press briefing.
This will be the third round of renewed Russia-Ukraine talks, Peskov said, noting that the composition of Moscow’s delegation has not changed and will be led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who also led the Russian delegation during the first two talks held in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2.
The agenda of the talks will primarily include the draft memoranda that both sides exchanged during the second round of talks in the Turkish metropolis, he added.
Peskov also said a discussion will take place on the continuation of prisoner swaps and the mutual exchange of the bodies of servicemen.
Describing the upcoming discussions as a “very difficult conversation,” he argued that the Russian and Ukrainian memoranda are “diametrically opposed.”
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a new round of Kyiv-Moscow peace talks will be held in Türkiye on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said a day later that Ukraine’s delegation will be led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, who also led Kyiv’s delegation during the first two negotiations.
