Istanbul, March 28. – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that “tomorrow (this Tuesday) the delegations of Russia and Ukraine will meet in Istanbul to negotiate a ceasefire and peace”, noting that “before the start of negotiations we will meet briefly with the delegations”.
During an appearance broadcast live on NTV, the Turkish leader added that he was in touch with the Presidents of Russia Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to promote mediation, stressing that the Turkey has been making efforts in this regard since 2014.
According to information from the local and international press, the meeting, which will take place behind closed doors, is scheduled for this Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., Telesur pointed out, and once the meeting has started, members of the press will do so in the area to be determined in front of the Dolmabahce Labor Office.
The plane with the Russian delegation that will take part in the negotiations with Ukraine landed in Istanbul on Monday, and earlier the head of the Russian delegation, Presidential Advisor Vladimir Medinsky, said on his Telegram channel that the Russians and Ukraine decided on this would have held the next round of face-to-face negotiations on March 29-30.
The first round of negotiations took place on February 28 in the Gomel region of Belarus. Two more face-to-face rounds and meetings in online format took place at later dates.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented in an interview with Serbian media on Monday that there are opportunities for his country and Ukraine to reach an agreement, confirming that the negotiations will take place in Istanbul, “and we are on it interested that these negotiations are crowned with results.”
Moscow is negotiating to ensure that “the people of Donbass will never again suffer from the Kiev regime,” the head of Russian diplomacy said.
“We must ensure that Ukraine stops being a country that constantly militarizes itself and tries to place offensive weapons there that threaten the Russian Federation,” he said.
“There are possibilities for an agreement because there is understanding of the most serious long-term mistakes made by our Western partners, although for obvious reasons they are unlikely to say it out loud,” the head of Russia’s diplomacy is quoted as saying by Telesur.
Russia has reason to believe that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has heard the most serious and legitimate security evidence from Moscow and is beginning to understand it, he said.
The Russian foreign minister insisted on the need to organize a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but only after the main issues have been resolved.