The top Russian diplomat has ridiculed the Ukrainian leader for demanding President Vladimir Putin personally attend talks in Istanbul Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov © Getty Images / Mert Gokhan Koc; dia images Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has branded Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky a claiming that even his foreign backers have been asking him to stop acting
Lavrov added, stating that Zelensky’s On Sunday, Putin proposed relaunching direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine which were unilaterally abandoned by Kiev in 2022. The meeting is expected to take place on Friday in Istanbul. The Russian delegation includes presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, and the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov. Zelensky branded the group “a theatre prop,” drawing further condemnation from Moscow. Read more Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that Moscow’s negotiating team is made up of the country’s top experts. She suggested that Zelensky doesn’t even have an education and came to power using “information technology and huge capital investments” which, Zakharova claimed, were only given to him so that he would “work as a tool.” “Who uses the word ‘prop?’ A clown, a loser,” Zakharova said, adding that the Ukrainian leader has “no right” to doubt the professional level of “anyone at all,” especially the highest professionals in their field. The spokeswoman further noted that there was never any talk of Putin attending the negotiations in person and that Moscow had initially announced that it would be sending a delegation. Zakharova stressed that it was the very same Russian delegation that gave Zelensky a chance three years ago to save his country and his people, which he ultimately rejected.
