After long hours of uncertainty, the conversations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, under Turkish mediation, began this Friday, May 16 in Istanbul. These are the first direct negotiations from the spring of 2022.
But in the absence of Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, who ordered their army to invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and did not make the trip to Turkey, the hopes of substantial progress are considered thin.
During the Russian-Ukrainian meeting at the Palais de Dolmabahçe in Istanbul, “a high unconditional fire” will be the “Ukrainian priority and hammer Andriï iermak, the right arm of Volodymyr Zelensky, shortly before the interviews.
A Zelensky-Poutine meeting “will also be registered on the agenda,” a Ukrainian diplomatic source requested anonymity to the AFP, while the Russian president did not respond to the offer of his Ukrainian counterpart to be seen in Turkey.
Other Ukrainian requests, according to this source: the return of Ukrainian children “deported” to Russia according to kyiv, which Moscow denies, and an important exchange of prisoners of war.
Moscow maintains maximalist claims
The Russian delegation, on the other hand, is directed by a background presidential advisor, Vladimir Medinski, to the Volodymyr Zelensky dam, which had described the day before this team as “pure facade.” He followed an exchange of insults with Moscow, Russian diplomacy treated him “clown.”
If Vladimir Medinski said Thursday that Russia was ready for “possible commitments”, the Kremlin maintains maximum statements: that Ukraine renounces to join NATO, leaves four of its regions partially controlled by Russia, in addition to Crimea Annexes in 2014, and that Western weapons come out to Cesar.
Vladimir Putin also sent a clear signal to the Ukrainians to reverse at the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinski, already loaded on the Russian side of the 2022 spring conversations that had failed. The Kremlin teacher wants, as his negotiator pointed out, that the new discussions are part of “La Suite” of these failed conversations three years ago, during which the Russians had camped in these maximalist positions, unacceptable for kyiv and their allies.
Just before the beginning of the discussions, kyiv accused Moscow of blocking the participation of the United States in the negotiations, so that “they were not present at any meeting.”
Last weekend, Vladimir Putin was surprised by offering direct negotiations. But, challenged by Volodymyr Zelensky to go to Istanbul to negotiate with him, the Russian president did not make the trip.
Source: BFM TV
