'Istanbul is very good' — Lavrov backs Turkey again for next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on May 27 that Moscow would welcome a second round of peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, he said during a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
"If you ask me, I would turn to our Turkish friends again — Istanbul is very good," Lavrov said, according to state-owned news agency TASS.
The proposal comes as global diplomacy searches for a venue for negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow after the May 16 talks failed to achieve the ceasefire Ukraine has pushed for.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 19 that Ukraine is open to a new round of talks in Turkey, Switzerland, or the Vatican. Lavrov, however, cast doubt on the Vatican as a host, arguing that it would be an unsuitable platform for talks between "Orthodox countries."
The Turkish foreign minister, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky during his visit, reaffirmed Ankara's readiness to facilitate future talks.
Fidan is expected to travel to Ukraine later this week following his two-day trip to Moscow.
Turkey previously hosted peace negotiations in March 2022. Since then, Ankara has maintained active contact with both Kyiv and Moscow and facilitated multiple prisoner exchanges, as well as the now-defunct Black Sea Grain Initiative.
No official date or venue for a second round of talks has been agreed. The renewed discussion about potential locations follows a May 19 call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin.
During the call, Putin rejected Ukraine's proposal for an immediate ceasefire and instead suggested preparing a "memorandum" outlining a future peace framework.
Since the call, Russia has launched one of its most intense waves of aerial attacks, including more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles over a single weekend.
Oleksii Kovalenko
