Volodymyr Medynskyi

Vladimir Medinsky – a Russian politician of Ukrainian origin. Since 2020, he has been an aide to Russian President Putin.

Medinsky is one of the main ideologists of the Russian statist view of Ukraine. In 2023, he released a history textbook in which he calls Ukraine an "ultranationalist state" and an "anti-Russia created by the hands of the West". 

He was head of the Russian negotiating group in 2022, when the negotiations reached a dead end. At that time, Russia demanded Ukraine's de facto capitulation. 

In May 2025, he led the delegation that went to negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul. At that time, Medinsky said that Russia was ready to fight forever and threatened the Ukrainian delegation with losses, saying that "perhaps some of those sitting here at this table will lose more of their loved ones". 

During the second round of talks on ending the war, on June 2, 2025, Russia handed Ukraine a memorandum on steps toward a ceasefire. Later, Medinsky stated that in 2022 the Kremlin had offered Ukraine "softer terms" for a peace treaty.

Channel 24 wrote a detailed biography of Vladimir Medinsky in an article.