ANKARA, March 29. /TASS/. Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is in Istanbul as a negotiator designated by the Russian side, Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

"Abramovich has come to Turkey as part of the negotiating team. Or not the team, let me rephrase it. As someone who’s been designated as one of the negotiators <…> by President Putin," he said.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported that Abramovich participated at the initial stage of talks with Ukraine.