Both Washington and Kiev are calling for leader-level meetings to launch a peaceful reconciliation in the Ukrainian war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend Russian-Ukraine peace talks in Turkey this week, despite Ukraine demands and Western pressures, according to a list of Russian delegations issued late Wednesday by the Kremlin.
On May 14, the Kremlin Telegram Channel announced that Vladimir Medinsky, the presidential aide who failed talks with Ukraine in 2022, will lead a Russian delegation to negotiate peace talks in Istanbul. The delegations include Foreign Minister Mikhail Garzin, Deputy Minister of Defense Alexander Fomin and Chief Igor Kostukov of the Russian Military Intelligence Bureau (GRU).
Moscow delayed the confirmation of representatives of the Istanbul peace negotiations, which President Putin unexpectedly announced early Sunday, amid Western support for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky said he is ready to take part in the talks and that Putin’s presence or absence indicates whether Russia is integral to pursuing peace.
President Donald Trump also indicated that he might fly to Turkey to take part in negotiations, urging Putin and Zelensky to come to the table and launch a deal that will ultimately put an end to the battlefield massacre. Trump, who has been sought a ceasefire in Ukraine since taking office in January, said the bloodshed is poor in scale, with current estimates of around 5,000 soldiers killed or injured on both sides of the conflict.
Trump said he would attend “if he finds it useful,” and said he hopes Putin will attend the in-person meeting, but the list of Russian representatives released by the Kremlin strongly suggests that the Russian leader is not there.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously refused to tell Putin whether he would travel to Turkey, and told reporters earlier this week that Russia was “serious” in pursuing a diplomatic reconciliation to the long-term war.
In addition to a list of Kremlin representatives that do not feature President Putin, there were other signals that the Russian president skips consultations. Vladimir Divalov, a senior Russian MP, said Russian national media Tass had said the outlook for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelensky in Istanbul is dim.
Zelenskyy’s aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said earlier this week that Ukrainian leaders are ready to meet with Putin in person, but they are ready to meet with lower-level Russian officials.
“There’s one decision maker on the side of Ukraine…and one decision maker in Russia,” Podraiki told Russian journalist Alexander Prischtev in a YouTube interview cited by the Moscow Times. “Everything else is merely a procedure with no consequences.”
Podolyak said that lower-level “technical conferences” between both sides are still possible in Istanbul, even if Putin was not present, but added, “If Russia is not represented at the highest level, it means that it is not ready to stop the war.”
In a nightly video address to the country on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he was waiting to see who from Russia will come to Turkey and participate in the meeting.
“It is clear that the only obstacle to peace is the lack of a clear will for Russia to do it,” he said. “Today we held several meetings with our team on the Turkey format. I am waiting to see who will be coming from Russia and decide what steps Ukraine should take.”
Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force 1 on May 14, saying many details about the meeting, including whether Putin would appear, are still unknown. The president added that he is willing to detour from his current tour of the Middle East if it means helping him cross the finish line and obtain a peace agreement.
“We’re going tomorrow (UAE), so we’re in a very complete situation,” Trump told reporters. “Now that doesn’t mean I won’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back.”
