Russia and Ukraine reported that a new round of peace talks will take place in Geneva next week with the mediation of the USA, Bloomberg reports.
The assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Medinsky, will head the Moscow delegation at the negotiations scheduled for February 17 and 18, press secretary of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov reported on Friday.
The Ukrainian negotiating group is also preparing for meetings with Russia and the U.S. in Geneva next week, reported to journalists the advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Dmytro Litvin.
The delegation from Kyiv will include officials dealing with military and political issues, as well as security matters, reported on Friday the chief negotiator of the country, Rustem Umerov, who will also participate in the upcoming negotiations.
This meeting will follow two rounds of negotiations that took place since the beginning of the year in the UAE with the participation of military officials from Ukraine and Russia, as well as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.
In anticipation of a new attempt to resolve the conflict, the ruble is moderately strengthening in trading on Friday. The USD/RUB pair, which reacted modestly earlier today to the unexpected reduction of the Central Bank of Russia's rate to 15.5%, is trading at 77 rubles by 16:24 Moscow time, decreasing by about 0.3%.
Earlier today, prices tried to rise in the over-the-counter market but faced resistance around 77.36 rubles. On the weekly chart, the ruble is trading unchanged.