Not the Vatican: Russia names preferred location for next talks with Ukraine
Sergey Lavrov, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia (Getty Images)
Russia would once again like to hold a new round of negotiations with Ukraine regarding the full-scale war in Istanbul, Türkiye, said Sergey Lavrov, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Interfax reports.
"As for the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, if you ask me, I would once again turn to our Turkish friends — Istanbul is a very good place," Lavrov said during a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.
Fidan, in turn, stated that Türkiye is ready to provide a venue for the negotiations, as it "considers it its duty to ensure peace on the planet."
Russia-Ukraine negotiations
On May 16, the first negotiations in several years between Ukraine and the Russian Federation took place to resolve the full-scale war. The delegations met in Türkiye. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also arrived there to meet with President Vladimir Putin, but the latter ignored the call for dialogue.
The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, while the Russian delegation was led by Putin's advisor Vladimir Medinsky.
During the meeting, the parties discussed a large-scale prisoner exchange on a 1,000-for-1,000 basis. The exchange took place this weekend in three stages.
Additionally, Lavrov had previously rejected the idea of holding negotiations on Vatican territory, since Russia and Ukraine are countries of Eastern Orthodoxy.
