MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Russia’s special military operation will continue after talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, but Moscow is ready to facilitate the resolution of humanitarian issues diplomatically at the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Forum of the Future 2050.
"We have just held talks [with Ukraine] in Istanbul. Our operation will continue, the president was quite clear on that. Simultaneously, we are ready to contribute to achieving the goals of the special military operation by using traditional diplomacy, above all, in resolving humanitarian issues," the top Russian diplomat noted.
He also branded as blasphemous Vladimir Zelensky’s refusal to retrieve the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in time, within the framework of agreements reached in Istanbul. "A lot has been said already. I don’t even want to talk anymore on this blasphemous topic," Lavrov emphasized.
Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation at the talks with Kiev, said that Russia had launched the humanitarian initiative on handing over to Ukraine over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen, as well as on swapping the wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and those under the age of 25, fulfilling the Istanbul agreements. However, Moscow’s goodwill was met with silence from the Kiev regime, which had indefinitely delayed the exchange.