Putin not attending talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending direct talks with Ukraine to resolve the ongoing war.
Speculation on whether Putin would attend the direct talks has hung over the meeting since he had proposed it himself last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said he would attend the talks if Putin were present.
But the Russian leader on Wednesday announced that he would not be joining a delegation of experienced negotiators.
An order issued by Putin on the Kremlin website said it included two officials who took part in the last set of talks held between the two sides in the first weeks following Russia's 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.
Those included presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin.
Also named as part of the delegation was Igor Kostyukov, director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the GRU, Russia's Foreign Military Intelligence Agency.
Kostyukov was identified in the Kremlin announcement as Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin was also named as part of the delegation.
Negotiators held several rounds of talks in 2022 first in Belarus and then in Turkey, but the negotiations eventually broke down.
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