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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not attend Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, and Moscow has yet to announce who will represent the country at the high-stakes meeting.
According to Russian media outlet Kommersant, Lavrov will not take part in the summit, and Russia has not yet officially named its delegates. This rules out both Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin from attending, despite earlier remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump, who hinted that Putin might participate if he himself were to attend.
Meanwhile, Kremlin confirmed Tuesday that a Russian delegation will travel to Istanbul on Thursday to engage in direct peace negotiations with Ukraine — marking the most serious diplomatic push in months.
“We only evaluate the statements of President Putin, who proposed holding negotiations between delegations on Thursday in Istanbul. Our delegation will be there and will wait for the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin. Peskov added that the identities of the Russian delegates will be disclosed only after receiving authorization from Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed his attendance at the Istanbul talks. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Türkiye’s commitment to facilitating a just and lasting peace, emphasizing Ankara’s readiness to host and support the negotiations.
The meeting follows Putin’s proposal for direct talks during a Sunday press conference in Moscow. He rejected a 30-day cease-fire initiative backed by Ukraine and its Western allies, a plan Kyiv says Russia has “completely ignored.”
Meanwhile, Trump announced Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent Washington at the May 15 talks in Türkiye. “Talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could be some pretty good results,” Trump said during a speech in Riyadh. “Marco is going to be going there.”
Trump also hinted he might travel to Türkiye himself if his presence would contribute to the peace process.
Previous peace efforts in Istanbul, including a round of failed negotiations in April 2022 just two months after the war began, are widely seen as a missed opportunity.
The upcoming Istanbul summit would mark the highest-level face-to-face contact between Russian and Ukrainian officials in more than a year. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Russian forces currently occupy about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
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