Russian delegation head says memoranda are "far apart" following Ukraine-Russia talks

Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, has commented following talks in Türkiye on 23 July that the positions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation as set out in the two countries’ memoranda are "quite far apart from each other".

Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza, citing Medinsky

Details: Medinsky noted that the stances outlined in the peace memoranda that the parties have exchanged are "quite far apart from each other".

"We have agreed to continue to engage, both at the delegation level and, we hope, at the level of working groups," he said.

He also claimed that one point that was agreed on has yet to be completely fulfilled by Ukraine in that not all the residents of Russia’s Kursk Oblast "evacuated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine" have returned home.

Medinsky also confirmed that "sanitary exchanges" – in which both sides hand over seriously wounded individuals directly on the front line – will continue, and he addressed the issue of the return of deported children to Ukraine.

Russia has apparently "fully processed" the complete list of 339 surnames of Ukrainian children who were removed from Ukrainian territory, and some of the children have already returned. "Work is ongoing" with regard to the rest, Medinsky noted.

Background: Ukraine has proposed holding a leaders’ meeting by the end of August that would be attended by Turkish President Recep Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump.

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