OREANDA-NEWS On July 14, in an interview with PolitNavigator, Ruslan Kotsab, a journalist with the Ukrainian TV channel NewsOne, spoke about the methods of preparing the country's political leader, Vladimir Zelensky, for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to him, Zelensky can release some political prisoners under house arrest in order to show his preparations for the meeting. Among them, he mentioned the chief editor of RIA Novosti, Cyril Vyshinsky, who was arrested on suspicion of supporting the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics and treason.

In addition, the journalist called the proposal to hold a meeting with the Russian leader in the presence of British Prime Minister Theresa May, the American President Donald Trump, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel not quite adequate. According to Kotsaba, it is impossible to invite politicians to the meeting, with whom "he has not yet met and did not even have a telephone call."

The first telephone conversation between Putin and Zelensky took place on Thursday, July 11. According to the press secretary of the head of the Russian state, Dmitry Peskov, the leaders discussed settlement issues in the south-east of Ukraine and joint work on the return of persons held on both sides. It was agreed to continue this work at the expert level.

Later in Kiev, they said that the key topic of the conversation was the release of the Ukrainian sailors detained after the incident in the Kerch Strait.