Who are the diplomats holding peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul?
Ukraine and Russia will hold their first direct peace talks in more than three years in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday, although the exact timing and format are unclear.
Moscow apparently detained its top diplomatic heavyweights – including Vladimir Putin’s chief foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov instead sent a special combination of officials, including Superman’s former Culture Minister and the infamous Spymaster.
The Ukraine delegation consisted of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's most trusted aide, who arrived in Ankara on Thursday and is expected to travel to Istanbul. Zelenskyy will not be expected to attend, and neither is Putin.
Russian team
Vladimir Medinsky
The delegation leading Russia is Vladimir Medinsky,,,,, Russia's super conservative former culture minister is Putin's assistant.
He is a determined nationalist who focuses on propaganda, state-centered versions of the country. His myths about the Russian book series attempt to debunk the perceived anti-Russian narrative, but have been widely criticized for his historical distortion.
Medinsky once claimed that Russians “have additional chromosomes”, a strange and pseudoscientific statement designed to suggest Mr. Russia’s resilience and uniqueness, which drew ridicule.
He led the Russian delegation in peace talks between Istanbul and Ukraine in spring 2022 and now plays a key role in shaping the Kremlin. He also oversaw new history textbooks, portraying Ukraine as a supranational state and citing invasion as a reasonable response to Western aggression.
Igor Kostyukov
Another prominent member of the Russian delegation in Turkey is Igor Kostyukov, head of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, which has lagged behind Moscow's most notorious covert operations in recent years.
Kostyukov was sanctioned in the United States for allegedly interfering in the role of the 2016 presidential election, and the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, killing Dawn Sturgess.
Recently, the GRU has been accused of orchestrating a series of sabotage operations in Europe, including arson attacks, cyber intrusions, data theft and attempts to target submarine cables.
Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin
Colonel Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin is an experienced Russian officer and diplomat. Like Medinsky, Fomin was also part of the Russian delegation during the peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in 2022.
Fuming is not a household name in Russia. He is a veteran of the Russian defense agency and has quietly built his career as one of the top Kremlin military diplomats. Fuming's name is also a deeper military link with Russia and non-Western allies – from arms sales to Myanmar and Egypt to increasingly warmer links with North Korea and Iran.
Mikhail Galuzin
Mikhail Galuzin is not known as the typical Kremlin hardwood. Books, fluent Japanese, and like to quote classical literature, have long been one of the more beautiful faces of Russian diplomacy. He gritted his teeth in the Soviet embassy in Tokyo and has always been Moscow's first choice for everything in East Asia, serving as Indonesia and later Japan's ambassador.
However, Russian invasion of Ukraine brought him back to Moscow. Galuzin, appointed deputy foreign minister at the end of 2022, now oversees relations with Russia’s post-Soviet neighbors, including Ukraine, which Moscow claims is part of its “field of influence.”
Ukrainian team
Rustem Umerov
Since September 2023, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is Crimean Tatar and an investment banker with close ties to Turkey. He is a fluent Turkish speaker who practices Muslim and has played a key role in Kyiv’s efforts to return international support to Crimea. Umerov co-chaired the Crimea Platform Diplomatic Summit and participated in preliminary negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in 2022.
Andriy Yermak
Andriy Yermak is the chief of staff of the Ukrainian president and is widely regarded as the second-intensity figure in the country after the president. Yermak is a former entertainment lawyer and film producer who became a close confidant to Zelenskyy during his media career and joined his political team in 2019.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Yermak has become the core figure in Ukraine's wartime leadership. He oversees foreign policy, intelligence coordination and high-level diplomacy, including prisoner exchanges and peace negotiations. His influence was so wide that he was called the “green cardinal” and “de facto vice president” of Ukraine. Yermak's prominence has aroused praise and controversy, and critics accused him of concentrating his strength.
Vasyl Malyuk
Vasyl Malyuk of Ukraine has been the summary of Ukraine since February 2023 and is the chief executive of Ukraine (SBU). A professional intelligence officer rarely travels in public places, Malyuk is in the effort to transfer the SBU to a more agile effort, and he has been a full-scale role in Ukraine (SBU), who rarely travels in public places, Ukraine’s professional intelligence officers rarely travel in public places, Ukraine’s professional intelligence officers rarely travel in public places, and Ukraine’s professional intelligence officers rarely travel abroad, which is the Ukrainian Ministry of Security Services (SBU). Malyuk is believed to have overseen high-profile operations such as the arrest of pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk and the development of maritime drones used to attack the Russian Navy.
Andriy Sybiha
Andriy Sybiha is the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, appointed in September 2024 after a long career in diplomacy and presidential strategy. He is an experienced operator in English and Polish, widely regarded as a trusted Zelenskyy loyalist, serving as deputy head of the president’s office for many years, where he oversees foreign policy and helps coordinate international partnerships during the war.
Andriy Hnatov
Andriy Hnatov, the newly appointed chief of staff of Ukraine, was promoted in March 2025 as part of Zelenskyy's military reform. Hnatov is an experienced Marine Corps official, known for his service for more than two decades, for his frontline leadership and loyalty under pressure.
In 2014, during Russia's annexation of Crimea, Hnatov was one of the few Ukrainian Marines who refused to flaws, leading a group of 200 soldiers to rebuild the Marines from the peninsula. Later, he commanded the 36th separate Marines and played a key role in defending Mykolaiv and Bakhmut.
