Medinsky, born in the city of Smila in central Ukraine, claimed in an interview with RBC Russia in 2023 — after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — that he had no hatred for Ukrainians and that Russia had no conflict with Ukraine.
Medinsky also claimed on his Telegram channel in March 2022, also after the start of the full-scale invasion, that Ukraine was allegedly preparing an offensive in Donbas, and that Russia’s massacre of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha was staged by the Ukrainian government. Along with those statements, Medinsky claimed in that Russia wanted peace.
After it became known that Putin would not go to Istanbul, the Russian delegation eventually assembled a group of people that didn’t include any top-level officials, including Medinsky. President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted, saying Moscow had dispatched a “sham delegation.”
The previous meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian sides in Istanbul in 2022 ended in a deadlock, during which Moscow reportedly demanded that Kyiv leave Crimea under Russian occupation and abandon its aspirations to join NATO.
Their PR will be: We are the ones who genuinely negotiated in 2022, and this is the man (Medinsky) who was part of that genuine negotiation,” Lucas said. “And look! He’s trying three years later to get the deal because it was Ukraine that walked away from them.”
As in 2022, the talks in Istanbul on May 16 did not result in a ceasefire agreement.
After the talks on May 16, Medinsky said the Russian delegation “was satisfied with the result and was ready to continue contacts,” in an apparent attempt to shift responsibility for the next move to Ukraine and the West.
