Tripartite negotiations on Ukraine have started in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. This was reported today, May 16, by the AFP agency, citing a source in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the Anadolu Agency, the Turkey-USA-Ukraine format meeting is taking place at the Dolmabahce Presidential Palace near the Bosphorus Strait. The negotiations are chaired by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan.
The Turkey-Russia-Ukraine tripartite meeting will start there at 12:30 (14:30 Tashkent time).
Delegations from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and America gathered in Istanbul. Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine arrived in Istanbul on May 15, but according to the Russian press, the meeting did not take place due to "logistical problems."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had also visited Turkey a day earlier, previously stating he was ready to communicate only with Vladimir Putin. The Russian President, however, did not go to Turkey, but sent a technical convoy to Istanbul, which did not include any ministers.
In an interview with journalists in Ankara on May 15, Volodymyr Zelensky called the level of the Russian delegation "a sham". According to him, its composition demonstrates Moscow's lack of seriousness in the negotiations since it doesn't include anyone "who actually makes decisions" in the Russian Federation.
Nevertheless, out of respect for US and Turkish Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky has decided to send a delegation for negotiations, led by Defense Minister Rustam Umarov. According to a decree on the website of the Ukrainian President's office, the delegation includes 11 other people: the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Deputy Head of Ukraine's Security Service Alexander Poklad, the First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Oleg Lugovsky, Heads of various units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and employees of the Central Apparatus of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
According to Zelensky, the main goal of the negotiations in Istanbul is to stop the firing, and the Ukrainian delegation has the mandate to discuss this.
Volodymyr Zelensky himself has already flown to Albania to participate in a meeting of the European political community.
The Russian delegation in Istanbul is led by the Assistant to the Russian President, the former Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky. Its members include Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Minister of Defense Alexander Fomin, the deputy head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kostyukov, and other "third-tier" officials.
According to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's task in the direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul is to achieve "long-term peace by eliminating the main causes of the conflict" sooner or later. He stated that the Russian delegation is "focused on a constructive approach, finding possible solutions and points of contact".
Medinsky believes that the current negotiations in Istanbul are "a continuation of the peace process that was unfortunately stopped three years ago by the Ukrainian side."
"Our official delegation has been approved by presidential decree and has all the necessary powers to conduct negotiations," said Vladimir Medinsky.
Representing the US in the negotiations in Istanbul is Michael Anton, the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department. US Secretary of State Mark Rubio and the head of Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, also arrived in Istanbul.
