Do Russia and Ukraine meet? So far we know that
Do Russia and Ukraine meet? So far we know that
CNN-The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself has. The possibility of a personal meeting between the two heads of state causes great excitement, but the Kremlin has not yet confirmed who will travel to Türkiye at all. Russian officials have spent several days preparing justifying explanations and excuses for Putin's possible absence.
background of the conversations
It is unlikely that the talks will show immediate results, and they will hardly bring the elective "agreement" that US President Donald Trump promises since returning to the White House in January. Despite this reservations, a direct meeting between Kiev and Moscow would be a significant milestone in the conflict at each level. Both parties have had no direct conversations since the beginning of the unprofitable, comprehensive invasion of Ukraine by Moscow in February 2022.
How did we get to this point?
The talks were first answered by Putin in response to the Putin ignored the ultimatum and instead suggested "direct conversations" between Russia and Ukraine. This could have been a delay tactic of Putin, a method that he used in the past several times . But it seems as if this plan could have backfired.
expectations of the meeting
Putin had not suggested to meet with his hated Ukrainian opposite one to one. He expressed the desire to resume the talks that took place in spring 2022 and in which high -ranking diplomats took part, but not the leaders themselves. However, Zelensky increased the pressure by announcing that he wanted to travel to Turkey himself and asked Putin to do it. The Ukrainian leader made it clear that he would not meet any other Russian official, since "everything in Russia depends on Putin". Trump, who is currently on a Middle East tour, added the pressure by indicated that he could also go "if it is helpful". This idea was supported by Zelensky, who said that Ukraine was "grateful" for Trump's presence. Trump also said on Wednesday that Putin "wants me to be there".
This brings the Russian guide into a precarious situation. If Putin decides to appear - what many Kremlin observers consider to be unlikely - he would undermine his own wrong story that Zelensky and his government were illegitimate. However, if he decides to stay at home, he gives Zelensky the opportunity to emphasize again that Russia is not seriously interested in peace. This message would be directed directly at Trump, because Kiev and his European allies have long said that they do not believe that Putin is seriously interested in negotiations on peace.
content and topics of the discussions
The two sides are so far apart that it remains unclear what the conversations - if they take place - are treated at all. Zelensky said on Tuesday that anything but an agreement on an unconditional ceasefire would be a failure. Putin, however, said that Russia does not rule out that "in these conversations there is the possibility of making a kind of new ceasefire, a new agreement", but which will serve to eliminate the "causes" of the conflict.
The "causes" that he calls contain long-term Russian complaints about the existence of Ukraine-formerly part of the Soviet Union-as a sovereign state and the NATO expansion to the east since the end of the Cold War. Both are not negotiable for Ukraine and its allies.
The last dialogue between Ukraine and Russia
The last known direct discussions between Kiev and Moscow took place in Turkey and Belarus in spring 2022 - when it became clear that Putin's original plan to take the entire Ukraine and install a new marionet government in Kiev within a few days had failed. This had Russia improvised and tried to achieve his goals through negotiations.
The Institute for the Study of War, an American conflict monitor, stated that Moscow's agreement would urinate Ukraine to the task of its sovereignty and make them completely powerless towards future attacks. When Ukrainian troops began to free parts of North Ukraine and find clear evidence of massacres and other atrocities, the conversations began to collapse. The Russian crimes, which were uncovered in a certain city - Bucha, north of Kiev - horrified the world and strengthened the decision of the Ukrainian population.
could someone else come?
soon after Zelensky challenged the Russian guide to travel to Turkey, the Kremlin began to lay the basis for Putin may not take part. "This is pure spectacle, that is theatrical. High -ranking meetings, especially in such a difficult situation, are absolutely not organized in this way," said the deputy chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, Konstantin Kosachev, on Monday on Russian state television. He explained that negotiation participants would take part "at an expert and technical level". The Kremlin consultant and former Russian ambassador in the United States, Yuriy Ushakov, said that the Russian delegation is determined by the topics that are discussed, and I would say "political and I would say that a variety of technical questions".
The comment on the "diversity of technical questions" could indicate that Moscow intends to continue his strategy of postponement by having a rejecting attitude over every detail and without expressing "no". The missions are higher this time, since both Trump and the European allies of Ukraine have announced that they are imposing further sanctions against Moscow if it does not agree to the ceasefire.
Current developments on the conversations
We don't know much about the conversations. At the beginning of this week, the Turkish government said that it was ready to offer "all kinds of support, including mediation and orientation of negotiations to achieve peace in the Ukraine conflict". Turkey has played a mediating role between Moscow and Kiev in the past, especially when it has the Initiative in the black Sea successfully conveyed, which guaranteed the safe passage of Ukrainian ships with food exports - a rare diplomatic sense of achievement in this brutal conflict. Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023.
As a NATO member, Turkey is interested in the conflict, but is also seen as more accessible to Russia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously spoke of his "special relationship" to Putin. Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, and his outdoor representative, Steve Witkoff, also plan to travel to the talks in Istanbul how a high-ranking civil servant of the Trump administration said on Tuesday, which was confirmed by another source who is familiar with the plans. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also in Turkey and takes part in an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers. From Tuesday it is planned that the US officials will watch the Turkish-facilitated talks between the Ukrainians and Russians. Rubio, Kellogg and Witkoff already took part in some of the previous discussions in Saudi Arabia, in which they as an intermediary Occurred by meeting the Russian delegation separately and with the Ukrainians a few days later. The fact that the two delegations may meet face this time is significant - even if their goal is to satisfy Trump than to achieve a real agreement.
The reporting was supported by CNN reporters Darya Tarasova, Kylie Atwood and Gul Tuysuz.
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