MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a Russian delegation will be in Istanbul on Thursday for possible direct peace talks with Ukraine, but did not disclose who would be there from Moscow’s side.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in the early hours of Sunday proposed direct negotiations in Turkey on Thursday “without any preconditions,” but he did not say who would attend from Moscow’s side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he would attend the talks with Russia only if Putin is also there.
Unconfirmed Russian and U.S. media reports have reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, will be in Istanbul and ready to meet their Ukrainian counterparts.
Asked by reporters in a daily briefing on Wednesday if the Kremlin could reveal the make-up of the Russian delegation, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We will do that when we get an instruction to do so from the president.”
But Peskov said that Putin’s offer of direct talks with Ukraine “remained valid.”
“The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15”, Peskov said.
The planned talks have become the main focus of peace efforts led by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump has said he will send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg to the talks, while also offering to attend himself.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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