Ukraine and Russia are due to hold their first direct peace talks in more than three years in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday, though the exact timing and format remain unclear.
Moscow has notably withheld its top diplomatic heavyweights – including Vladimir Putin’s chief foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov – instead dispatching a peculiar mix of officials, among them an ultranationalist former culture minister and a notorious spymaster.
