Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan intends to travel to Russia on May 26 to discuss the “situation” in Ukraine.
This is reported by Bloomberg, citing the Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Hakan Fidan will emphasize to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Ankaraʼs interest in "achieving a just and lasting peace" in Ukraine. The Turkish politician is also scheduled to hold talks with other senior Russian officials, including Putinʼs aide Vladimir Medinsky.
According to Anadolu, Fidan and Lavrov will also discuss regional issues on Monday. They will focus on Syria and the Gaza Strip, as well as trade and energy cooperation between the two countries.
- On May 16, the first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia since 2022 were held in Istanbul. The meeting lasted a little over an hour. According to journalists, Russia demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from a number of territories to ensure a ceasefire and threatened to occupy the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
- At the beginning of the war, delegations of Ukraine and Russia had already met in Istanbul, but in the spring of 2022, such meetings stopped. Based on the “Istanbul Communiqué”, the parties concluded a major agreement. One of its drafts, dated April 15, is publicly available — it was published by the American newspaper The New York Times. From this draft, it is clear that Russia offered Ukraine to agree to worthless, meaningless guarantees. The Russian side reserved the right to block any military assistance and at the same time demanded that Ukraine limit the size of the Defense Forces. In essence, Putin offered Zelensky to surrender — just in a more veiled form.
- Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov reported on May 16 that at the meeting, the Ukrainian and Russian sides discussed a prisoner exchange in the "1000 for 1000" format and a ceasefire. According to him, Moscow and Kyiv have reached an agreement on the exchange.
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