Kremlin Says Ukraine Peace Talks in Türkiye Are Still on, but Doesn’t Say Who Is Going

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 Türkiye 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 US 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.”