|
2025-05-18 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
|
|
Russia Needs Negotiations, Ukraine Needs a Show: What the Delegations Left Istanbul With
|
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Gevorg Mirzayan
[REGNUM] On May 16, long-awaited direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations took place in Istanbul—the first in almost three years.
The idea of continuing the negotiation process belonged to Vladimir Putin - the Russian president had previously proposed holding them on May 15. However, the Kiev regime dragged its feet for a long time - demanding that Putin personally come to Istanbul for a meeting with Zelensky.
And when it became clear that the Russian leader would not give in to Ukrainian wishes (the head of state's aide, Vladimir Medinsky, was appointed head of the Russian delegation ), and US President Donald Trump would not approve of the breakdown of the negotiations, Zelensky had to send a delegation to Istanbul after all.
“American representatives explained to the Ukrainian side before the start of bilateral negotiations with Russia that they should not make further meetings impossible, since Trump wants to present the start of bilateral negotiations as his own success,” Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, explains to Regnum.
Thus, the negotiations began according to Russia's scenario - and continued in exactly the same way. Thus, the parties agreed on another prisoner exchange.
The Kiev regime, of course, insisted on an exchange on the principle of “all for all” (knowing full well that the number of captured Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity is many times greater than the number of Russians in Ukrainian captivity), but the position of the Russian delegation was adamant: strictly on the principle of “one for one.”
In the end, it was decided to exchange a thousand for a thousand - and this is the largest exchange in the entire history of the SVO. Now, in all likelihood, the parties will agree on the lists. And for this alone it was possible to meet - after all, for Russia, the most important thing has always been people, and after the exchange, a thousand Russian soldiers will return home.
Another positive point is that negotiations took place at all and that they will continue, tentatively in June.
"The most important thing is that neither side called them a failure, nor declared that continuing them was pointless. On the contrary, the negotiations were called expedient. This means that a long-term Russian-Ukrainian process was initiated in Istanbul," Dmitry Suslov explains to Regnum News Agency.
After all, we should not forget that, despite the West's explicit and implicit participation in the conflict, the peace agreement will be signed only and exclusively between Russia and Ukraine. These are the rules of the classic Cold War "conflicts on the periphery", which is what the West considers the Ukrainian war to be.
But there was no progress after that. And there couldn't have been.
Thus, the Kiev regime insists on an immediate ceasefire. In fact, even before the negotiations began, its head stated that the delegation sent had a mandate to discuss only one single topic: a 30-day truce.
Russia, both before and during the negotiations, views this proposal as meaningless. "War and negotiations always go hand in hand in history," said Vladimir Medinsky.
Yes, during the negotiations Moscow did not remove this issue from the agenda. "We agreed that each side would present its vision of a possible future ceasefire. It would spell it out in detail," Medinsky said. However, this does not mean that the Russian side made any real concessions here.
“The agreement that each side will present its vision of a ceasefire does not mean that this ceasefire will come soon,” explains Dmitry Suslov.
Moreover, the Russian vision has allegedly already been presented - according to Sky News, Moscow has demanded that the Kiev regime withdraw all its troops from Russian constitutional territories. That is, from those cities in the Kherson, Zaporizhia regions and Donbass that Ukraine is currently occupying.
Western media, citing their sources, generally emphasize that the Russian side behaved quite harshly during the negotiations. For example, Vladimir Medinsky allegedly spoke about his readiness to bring the SVO to a victorious end, no matter how long it takes.
"We don't want war, but we are prepared to fight for a year, two, three - however long it takes. We fought Sweden for 21 years. How long are you prepared to fight?" - British journalists write.
However, this toughness was predictable in a good sense. Vladimir Medinsky's delegation did not try to disrupt anything or insult anyone, and did not strive to put on a show at the event.
It merely reminded of the clear and unchanging demands, voiced more than once by Vladimir Putin: about the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops for the conclusion of an “immediate truce,” and about the readiness to continue the SVO as long as it takes to resolve all the key problems of the Ukrainian conflict – that is, changing the Russophobic nature of the Kyiv regime and protecting Russian citizens.
And only after Russian demands are accepted or at least real work begins on them, will it be possible to move negotiations to some higher level.
Yes, the Kiev regime wants to transfer him. "The Ukrainian side has requested direct negotiations between the heads of state," Medinsky said. And immediate ones.
"The next stage should be a meeting of the leaders," said the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. However, it is not Umerov or Zelensky, but only Putin who will decide with whom, when and where to meet.
And at the moment he has nothing to talk about with Zelensky - either literally or figuratively.
|
Posted by badanov 2025-05-18 00:00||
||
Front Page|| [54 views ]
Top
|
|
08:32 Gleng Whaick2262
08:31 Gleng Whaick2262
08:28 Gleng Whaick2262
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
07:42 Procopius2k
07:39 Procopius2k
07:36 Procopius2k
07:35 Procopius2k
07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker
07:03 NN2N1
06:58 NN2N1
06:58 Besoeker
05:28 Whiskey Mike
05:23 Whiskey Mike
|
