Moscow offers a second talks with Ukraine on June 2 in Istanbul – Liberation

Russia offered this Wednesday, May 28, in Ukraine Second TV session direct in Istanbul, on June 2, in order to send him his « memorandum » supposed to expose the Russian conditions for a lasting peace agreement. « Our delegation, directed by (Vladimir) Medinski, is ready to present this memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and to provide the necessary explanations during a second cycle of direct negotiations incorporating in Istanbul next Monday, June 2 »said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a statement.

Vladimir Medinski had led the Russian delegation during the May 16 talks in Istanbul. These were the first direct peace discussions between Kyiv and Moscow since the spring of 2022, at the start of the Russian attack on a large scale against Ukraine.

The discussions of May 16 in Istanbul had not resulted in a major breakthrough to find a diplomatic outcome in the conflict, but the two camps were committed to carrying out an exchange of prisoners of unprecedented magnitude, in 1,000 people format against 1,000 people, which ended last weekend.

While thanking her « Turkish partners »Russian minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that hopes that « All those who are sincerely interested » by « The success of the peace process » support the holding of this second cycle of negotiations. For the time being, Kyiv has not reacted to this proposal. Earlier, Wednesday, the Kremlin had dismissed the proposal of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of a trilateral summit with his counterparts Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to advance peace discussions.

« Such a meeting must be the result of concrete agreements between the two delegations » Russian and Ukrainian, decided the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, during his daily briefing in which AFP participated. Visiting Berlin to meet the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Ukrainian president accused him of Russia of hindering peace talks by seeking « Reasons for not stopping war ».