Istanbul - Saba:
The Turkish Presidency on Monday said there are no indications yet regarding the date of the upcoming fourth round of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, Turkey, stressing that the Turkish side is always ready to host them.
The Russian Sputnik news agency quoted a source in the Turkish Presidency as saying, when asked about the possibility of holding another round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations this month: "No, there are no indications yet. We will inform you if any details emerge."
The source explained that the Turkish side is always ready to mediate a solution to the Ukrainian crisis.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated last Friday that the Kyiv regime had agreed to Russia's proposal to resume the Istanbul negotiations thanks to Trump's insistence.
The Russian Foreign Ministry quoted Lavrov's statements, in which he added that "the substantive discussion on the Ukrainian issue between Moscow and Washington, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the year, is very useful and yielding results."
Lavrov noted that "the current US administration's resumption of direct dialogue is fully consistent with standard diplomatic practice, the abandonment of which under Joe Biden (former US President) was contrary to common sense. The substantive discussion on the Ukrainian issue between Moscow and Washington, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the year, is extremely useful and yielding results. Thanks to the insistence of President Donald Trump, the Kyiv regime accepted our proposal to resume negotiations in Istanbul."
The Russian Foreign Minister noted that "three rounds (of negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul) have already been held, and in addition to important humanitarian agreements, we have proposed the formation of working groups on political and military issues, which will represent an important step towards reaching sustainable agreements, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized, specifically on August 1, during his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the Valaam TV channel. We are awaiting a concrete response from Kyiv."
At the same time, Lavrov noted that "so far, only contradictory statements have come from Kyiv from Volodymyr Zelensky."
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