Putin: announced the Russian delegation in Istanbul
The long -awaited white tobacco, in terms of the Russian delegation that will go to Constantinople on the Ukrainian issue, came out of the Kremlin, with Vladimir Putin announcing its composition.
The head of the mission will be Vladimir Mentinsky. In particular, according to a Presidential Decree posted on the Kremlin website, the Russian delegation will consist of the following persons:
Vladimir Mentinsky (President’s adviser), Alexander Fomin (Deputy Minister of Defense) and Igor Kostiukov (Director of the Main Information Directorate, Gru, Russian Army).
It is now definitive that Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not attend the meeting, despite the constant pressure that the Russian leader has taken in the last 24 hours to participate in the talks expected to take place.
Donald Trump will not go to Turkey to participate in Russia-Ukraine talks on Thursday (15/4), a US official said shortly after the Russian president’s announcement. On Wednesday (14/4) the US president had stated that he could go to Constantinople if the Russian leader was present.
Vladimir Mentinsky is the chairman of the Russian Historical Education Council. He was also head of the Russian delegation involved in the Russian-Ukrainian talks of 2022, also in Constantinople, which were torpedoed by the British side, according to a multitude of publications of the time.
‘No Putin makes no sense’
Earlier, Ukrainian Presidency Advisor Mikhailo Pontoliak made it clear that the presidential negotiations would not take place if Russian President, Vladimir Putin, did not attend in person.
« Only Zelenski can decide whether Ukraine will participate without Putin’s presence, but in this case, talks will not be held at the level of Heads of State, it makes no sense, » the Ukrainian president’s adviser underlined.
