President Vladimir Putin convened a late-night meeting with key Russian officials to discuss the upcoming peace talks with Ukraine, the Kremlin announced on Thursday.
Putin dispatched a delegation including a Kremlin aide, deputy ministers, and the chief of military intelligence to Turkey for peace talks with Ukraine on Thursday. He did not accept Kyiv’s invitation to attend in person and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Putin was shown opening the Kremlin meeting, stating its purpose was “to prepare for the upcoming negotiations with the Ukrainian side.”
Key members of the delegation to the talks were present, including Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Igor Kostyukov (director of Russian military intelligence), and Alexander Fomin (deputy defence minister).
Additional attendees included:
- Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu
- First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov
- Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov
- Defence Minister Andrei Belousov
- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
- Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov
- SVR Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin
- National Guard Director Viktor Zolotov
- Chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov
- Senior Russian commanders involved in the war
