Vladimir Putin has not been listed in a Russian delegation expected to go to Turkey for talks on Thursday with Ukraine.
The Russian president signed an order on Wednesday detailing who would be in the delegation to Istanbul, including presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich, and deputy minister of defence Alexander Fomin.
On Sunday, Mr Putin had proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine to be held on Thursday “without any preconditions” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul.
Donald Trump will not go to Turkey to join the Russia-Ukraine talks either, a US official said after Mr Putin announced the Russian delegation. The US president said he was “thinking” of going to Turkey if Mr Putin would be there.
Mr Zelenskyy had said he would attend, but only if Mr Putin also attended.
“I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia and then I will determine what steps Ukraine should take. The signals in the media so far are unconvincing,” he said in his nightly video address earlier.
He said Mr Putin “continues to strike Ukraine”, adding: “In fact, it is now more obvious to the entire world than at any other point during the full-scale war… that the only obstacle to establishing peace is the lack of a clear will from Russia to do so.”
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The proposed meeting came after the “coalition of the willing” countries, including Britain, threatened Russia with fresh sanctions if it failed to take part in a 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday.
Russia effectively rejected the proposal by instead calling for direct negotiations in Istanbul with Ukraine.
On Tuesday the Institute for the Study of War said Russia is “attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and while making additional battlefield advances”.
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