The Kremlin on Wednesday again declined to say who it would send to talks with Ukraine in Turkey this week, after Volodymyr Zelensky urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a personal meeting.
There are few concrete details about the planned talks, which would constitute the first direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials since the initial weeks of Moscow’s military offensive, launched in February 2022.
Putin himself called for the negotiations in a late-night address from the Kremlin at the weekend, but Moscow has repeatedly refused to say if the president would travel, or who would be in the Russian team.
Asked by AFP in a briefing on Wednesday who would travel from Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again declined to answer.
“The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15,” he said.
Peskov said he would provide an update “when we get the relevant instructions from the president”.
“No such instructions have been received yet.”
Zelensky is set to travel to Turkey where he said he would hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on either Wednesday or Thursday.
The Ukrainian president has urged Donald Trump to attend, arguing that the US leader’s presence would convince Putin to come.
Trump said he was considering going, though on Tuesday Washington said Rubio would be in Turkey for the talks.
He is expected in Istanbul on Friday, according to a US official — raising uncertainty even over what day the talks might take place.
Foreign ministers from NATO countries are gathering from Wednesday in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya where they will discuss ramping up defence spending, hours before the Russia-Ukraine talks are supposed to get underway.
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