Medinsky's statements after the negotiations. Results of the third round

On July 23, the third round of negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine ended in Istanbul. Vladimir Medinsky, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and head of the Russian delegation, spoke about the results of the meeting. A selection of his statements was made by Izvestia.

Exchange of bodies of the dead and prisoners

All the humanitarian agreements of the second round of negotiations between the parties have been fulfilled, Medinsky said. As part of the agreements, Russia returned to Ukraine more than 7 thousand bodies of dead servicemen. The exchange took place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

The Russian Federation and Ukraine also conducted a prisoner exchange, and Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance. Upon arrival in Russia, they will continue their treatment and rehabilitation.

In addition, the Russian Federation proposed to conduct a new exchange of 1.2 thousand prisoners of war from each side. In addition, the Russian side expressed its readiness to transfer another 3,000 bodies of dead servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

Russia has also once again proposed holding short humanitarian pauses.

Return of civilians

During the talks, the delegations discussed the issue of the return of civilians displaced by the fighting. Ukraine has not yet returned about 30 residents of the Kursk region, the Russian presidential aide said.

"If you have taken civilians out from under fire, then return them home. As you say. And if you took them hostage, like [the Palestinian radical movement] Hamas, let's call them hostages," Medinsky said.

He added that Ukrainian children currently in Russia are kept in prosperity and safety under state control.

Currently, the Commissioners for Human Rights and Children's Rights in the Russian Federation are working on a list of children from Ukraine who are allegedly in Russia. At the same time, during the study of the document, it turned out that 50 of the people included in this list are adults, the head of the Russian delegation said.

Draft memoranda

As Medinsky pointed out, negotiations on the contents of the memoranda lasted a long time. The positions of the parties are currently far from each other, the head of the Russian delegation stressed.

"We discussed for a long time the positions outlined by our parties in the memoranda submitted last time. The positions are quite far from each other," the Russian presidential aide said.

He added that the parties agreed to maintain contacts at the level of delegations and promptly at the level of working groups.

Oncoming traffic: the third round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine has ended

Vladimir Medinsky summed up the results of the meeting

About the meeting of the Heads of State

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky should "put an end to it," Medinsky said. He called the preliminary elaboration of the terms of the settlement agreement a condition for the meeting of the heads of state.

"At this meeting, we should not discuss the agreement, but put an end to it, sign it; as we say, is the end of the matter the crown?" – said the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation.

The fourth round of negotiations

Medinsky, responding to a question from Izvestia, also spoke about the possibility of holding a fourth round of negotiations.

"We hope that it will be," the Russian presidential aide said.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.