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Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs speaking to officials in Turkey
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Who has Putin sent to Turkey?
Russia's peace delegation will be made up from a number of key Kremlin cronies with a disturbing past - here are a few of those confirmed to be in attendance.
- Vladimir Medinsky: Top Kremlin aide set to lead the delegation
- Mikhail Galuzin: Russian deputy foreign minister
- Igor Kostyukov: Director of Russian military intelligence
- Alexander Fomin: Russian deputy defence minister
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Putin's chair is always empty in peace talks
A top foreign minister set to take part in today's peace talks has already slammed Vladimir Putin's absence.
Finnish minister of foreign affairs, Elina Valtonen, told the media today in Turkey that she doesn't believe the despot wants peace.
She added that he has always had a chair at the negotiating table but it remains empty.
Valtonen said: "When it’s about peace, when it’s about a ceasefire, when it's about negotiating how to end the war, we have one chair empty, which is the chair of Vladimir Putin.
"I guess the world has realised there is only one party not willing to engage in serious peace negotiations and that certainly is Russia."
Credit: AP
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Russia-Ukraine peace talks already causing friction
Peace talks haven't officially started yet today despite both parties already disagreeing.
Russian media initially said the negotiations will get underway at 10am local time (7am UK time) this morning.
But a Ukrainian official has since dismissed this remark and called it "not true".
Andriy Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said on Telegram a 10am start "was not planned and was not true".
It is still unclear when both sides will officially sit down.
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'Why would he go if I'm not there?' - Trump defends Putin
Donald Trump has told reporters in the Middle East that he understands why Vladimir Putin is not going to the Turkish peace talks.
Trump said: "Why would he go if I'm not going?
"I didn't think it was possible for Putin to go if I'm not there."
The US president said on Wednesday he would see if he could attend in person and hoped Putin would join him.
Both are not expected to show now.
Credit: Getty -
Putin no show at crunch peace talks
Vladimir Putin is again refusing to show up at the latest round of peace talks with Ukraine.
The despot was urged to attend by Donald Trump but has instead decided to stay in Moscow.