An aide, a diplomat and a spy: Who is Putin sending to Turkey?
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with members of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) National Public Organisation and participants of the organisation's 20th Congress and Forum via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 13, 2025. Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
An aide, a diplomat and a spy: Who is Putin sending to Turkey?
ISTANBUL - Who is Russian President Vladimir Putin sending to the peace talks with Ukraine that the Kremlin chief himself proposed?
Just over an hour before Moscow's midnight on May 14, the Kremlin published the names of those who would attend.
* Vladimir Medinsky, Kremlin aide. To head the delegation.
Born in Soviet Ukraine, Medinsky helped lead the 2022 peace talks which ultimately failed.
Educated at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Medinsky was behind a new history textbook for schools which reflect Putin's historical view: pride at the achievements of the superpower Soviet Union, indignation at the humiliations of the Soviet collapse, and acclaim for the "rebirth" of Russia under the former KGB spy's rule which began on the last day of 1999.
He is chairman of the ultra-patriotic Russian Military Historical Society.
* Mikhail Galuzin, deputy foreign minister
Oversees relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics.
Educated at Moscow State University's Institute of Asian and African Studies. Speaks fluent Japanese and English.
* Igor Kostyukov, director of Russian military intelligence, known as GRU, or more recently as simply GU. The GRU is one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world.
Kostyukov was the first naval officer to head GRU.
* Alexander Fomin, deputy defence minister. Took part in the 2022 talks on Ukraine.
Additionally, Putin approved a list of experts for the negotiations.
* Alexander Zorin, first deputy chief of information of the directorate of the General Staff. Born in Soviet Ukraine. Helped lead Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war. Known for seeking to reconcile sides.
* Yelena Podobreyevskaya, deputy head of the Kremlin directorate for humanitarian policy.
* Alexei Polishchuk, director of the foreign ministry's CIS department dealing with Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.
* V. Shevtsov, deputy head of the main directorate for international military cooperation at the defence ministry. REUTERS
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