Vladimir Putin is too “afraid” to attend the peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey and instead has sent a low-level delegation who are not allowed to make any decisions which has been branded as a “slap in the face” by the Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
The low-level delegation is being led by Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky who led the failed talks in Belarus in 2022.
Last night President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing.”
Today President Zelensky arrived in Istanbul for the talks despite Putin refusing to attend, he will hold talks with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital.
Zelensky told reporters at the airport that the Ukrainian delegation is at the “highest level” with representatives of the military and heads of “all intelligence agencies,” compared to Russia’s “sham” delegation.
Shortly after Zelensky arrived in Ankara he said, “We need to understand what the level of the Russian delegation is, what their mandate is, and whether they are capable of making decisions on their own.”
He added, “Because we all know who makes decisions in Russia,” saying Moscow has sent a “sham” delegation to appear at the peace talks who are void from senior officials.
Earlier this week Zelensky told Spiegel, “I don’t really believe that Putin himself is capable of meeting. It seems to me that he is afraid.”
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