While Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has travelled to Turkey for direct ceasefire talks with Russia – the first in three years – Vladimir Putin has refused to go.
Instead, Putin sent his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to head the Russian delegation which Mr Zelensky described as “decorative” and a “theatre prop”.
Arriving in Ankara to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine will have military, diplomats and high-level representatives at the Istanbul talks, he said, adding that Moscow failed to send a high-level delegation.
"The level of the Russian [delegation] is not known officially to me but from what we see, it looks more like it's on a decorative level," he said. "We need to understand what kind of level the Russian delegation is, and what mandate they have and whether they can make any decisions."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is not attending, and neither is Defence Minister Andrey Belousov: instead, their deputies are going.
Mr Medinsky has built his career on an ultra-patriotic slant on Russian history, rising through the ranks of the Kremlin to become one of Putin’s most trusted advisers.
The 54-year-old led a previous round of direct negotiations with Ukraine in 2022. He previously served as the Minister of Culture from 2012 to 2020, when he became a presidential aide.
Mr Medinsky, who chairs the ultra-patriotic Russian Military Historical Society, was behind a new history textbook for schools which reflects Putin's historical view: pride at the achievements of the superpower Soviet Union, indignation at the humiliations of the Soviet collapse, and acclaim for the "rebirth" of Russia under the former KGB spy's rule which began on the last day of 1999.
The textbooks also include the Kremlin’s version of the war in Ukraine, saying Moscow was “gathering Russian lands from the “ultra-nationalistic state” of Ukraine, and claimed Russia “saved peace” when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Medinsky has also repeatedly rejected any historical case for Ukraine to exist as its own state, claiming the idea was created by the Austrian Empire.
The presidential aide leads a Russian delegation that does not even include senior ministers, drawing criticism from Mr Zelensky.
Deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin is attending, and he also took part in the last talks held between the two sides in 2022 in the weeks following Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Mikhail Galuzin, deputy foreign minister, is also attending.
Also among the Russian delegation which arrived on Thursday was Igor Kostyukov, the director of Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU. The GRU is one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world.
Putin was the one to propose direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul "without any preconditions". However, late last night, the Kremlin said Mr Putin's name was not on the list of those attending.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was in Turkey for meetings with Nato counterparts including the US's top diplomat Marco Rubio, who were all there “to ensure that we get a just and lasting, enduring peace” for Ukraine.
"The readiness for that peace is demonstrated by President Zelensky being here in Turkey as well,” he said.
“And of course, we watched closely as we head to these talks, noting the Russian low-level individuals who are coming to represent the Russian side."
