Camilla Jessen
With hours to go before negotiations are set to begin, Russia has yet to name its delegation.
As preparations continue for high-stakes peace negotiations in Istanbul, the Kremlin is still withholding details about who will represent Russia at the table.
The talks are scheduled to begin Thursday, May 15, but as of Wednesday, no official list of delegates has been confirmed.
According to Digi24, when pressed about the matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
No, nothing has changed in this regard. We will do this when we receive the relevant instructions from the president. There have been no such instructions yet.
Peskov emphasized that President Vladimir Putin has not yet finalized the composition of Russia’s negotiating team.
Despite the mystery surrounding the delegation, Peskov reiterated that Putin’s previous statement from May 11 remains valid:
The Russian delegation will wait for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15.
On the Ukrainian side, President Volodymyr Zelensky has already announced that he will personally attend the Istanbul summit.
However, he made it clear he has no interest in meeting with lower-ranking Russian officials.
“Talks with Russian ‘lower-ranking officials’ would be meaningless,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, one of Zelensky’s senior advisers.
Kyiv has stated that only a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin would be worth pursuing at this stage of the war.