Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said on Tuesday that approximately 2,300 Russian servicemen and about 170 civilians were returned from Ukraine this year under the prisoners of war agreements reached in Istanbul.
Speaking in an interview with the Russian daily Izvestia, Galuzin noted that Moscow, for its part, returned about 2,400 Ukrainian servicemen and 170 civilians to Kyiv.
"As a result of the agreements reached in Istanbul, approximately 2,300 of our soldiers and about 170 civilians were able to return to their homeland in Russia. As for the Ukrainian side, about 2,400 military personnel and about 170 civilians were returned to them," he said.
Galuzin also mentioned the exchange of fallen soldiers' remains.
"We have given the Ukrainian side about 12,000 bodies of their deceased soldiers. Around 200 bodies have been returned to us. This process, I believe, will continue," he said while responding to a related question: "You are right, and there is a very serious, positive effect from the discussions that took place in Istanbul."
The diplomat also claimed that Ukraine continues to forcibly detain 12 Russian citizens "abducted from the Kursk region" during its 2024 incursion.
Galuzin expressed regret that Ukraine has suspended the Istanbul talks without responding to several Russian proposals.
"This is also a package of proposals on security guarantees. These are proposals to concretize and intensify the work of the Istanbul process—to create three working groups on military, political, and humanitarian issues. All of this remained unanswered," he said.
Regarding the possibility of new talks in Istanbul, Galuzin pointed out that Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya "announced through the media that it was interrupting the Istanbul process at least until the end of the year."
"It was categorically said through the media that the Ukrainian side was interrupting the Istanbul process. However, we have not received any official notifications in this regard," he added.
Asked about informal contacts with Ukraine, Galuzin said he is unaware of any such communications.
On the prospects for ending the conflict, he said he "would not like to set any time landmarks here."
"The Kyiv regime should immediately and without delay make a responsible political decision on Donbas, which would be in line with the understandings reached during Russian-American contacts, primarily at the Anchorage (Alaska) summit," he stressed.
Russia has no intention of artificially delaying anything; rather, it is determined that once Ukraine makes such a decision, a final ceasefire and settlement will follow, Galuzin said.
He also echoed Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's assessment that Kyiv and Europe currently pose the main obstacle to peace, believing they can defeat Russia.
"That is, as the minister said, it turns out that they do not feel sorry not only for the Ukrainians, whom they send to the furnace of military operations, but also for their own population," Galuzin concluded.
