‘Putin’s choice of sending Medinsky reinforces idea this is a continuation of failed talks in 2022’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with top Turkish and Ukrainian officials Friday after landing in Istanbul ahead of the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks in three years. Ukraine’s negotiators will be led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian side is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a hawkish adviser to Putin who has questioned Ukraine’s right to exist and led failed talks at the start of the war.