Moscow confirmed on Friday that a new round of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would begin next week.
The meeting will take place in Geneva on February 17-18 and again involve Russia, Ukraine and the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency TASS.
Peskov said on Friday that Russia was changing the composition of its negotiating team.
The delegation would this time be led by former culture minister and presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky. He took part in direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul last year and in talks shortly after the start of the war.
Ukraine has already begun preparations for the meeting, wrote Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security Council and former chief negotiator, on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has determined the composition of the negotiating team, he added.
In addition to Umerov, Kiev’s team includes, as before, presidential chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of General Staff, Yuriy Hnatov, the leader of the presidential party in parliament David Arakhamia, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya and the deputy head of military intelligence, Lieutenant General Vadym Skibitskyi.
Moscow and Kiev last negotiated directly with each other in the United Arab Emirates at the beginning of February. As in the first round in January, the United States was present as a mediator.
No concrete results were announced after those talks, but the parties involved described the meeting as constructive afterwards.
The talks in Abu Dhabi were led on the Russian side by Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU military intelligence service.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion with Western financial and military help for almost four years.