Putin sharply lowered the level of delegation to Istanbul and stays in Moscow, Trump is coming home
Hours before the start of Thursday morning negotiations between Russia and Ukraine for the end of the war, the Russian delegation was not announced. Until 11 pm tonight, when the Kremlin announced its composition and it was highly low as a level of representation.
Russian media speculated that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, considered the key presidential advisor to foreign policy, may be in the team. This turned out to be too optimistic.
| Both the leader and the announced composition of the delegation confirm what Moscow has begun to speak hard in recent days – that it does not give the meeting in Istanbul any meaning greater than Usually continuing the negotiations from the spring of 2022. |
And then, and now, the leader of the delegation is Vladimir Medinskya former Minister of Culture who became Putin’s assistant. The Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, the chief of military intelligence Igor cost and Deputy Minister of Defense Alexander Fomin (He was also in the two delegations that continued Istanbul’s negotiations in Belarus in 2022). The rest are deputy defense and foreign ministers and gesture members, but at the level of management or department.
The United States is sending Foreign Minister Marco Rubio to Istanbul and the two special envoys for Russia and Ukraine – Steve Whitkof and Keith Kellog. Analysts have commented that Putin is probably also waiting for more certainty that the US president will appear there to leave for Istanbul. Less than an hour after the announcement of the Russian delegation Reuters announced that Trump is going home after a tour of the Persian Gulf and will not visit Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said he would be in Ankara ready to join (with his host Recep Tayyip Erdogan) if Putin appeared. According to unconfirmed reports, he is already traveling to Turkey. Until recently, he insisted that Putin could only negotiate him and the highest-level meeting was needed to show that both sides seriously wanted to end the fire.
According to diplomatic sources at Washington Post, Zelenski was disappointed with the course of events this week to the extent that he said he would not allow the Ukrainian delegation to meet the Russian. « Zelenski could not see the point of traveling, » says one of the sources. Both Europeans and Americans exhorted him to refuse to send to Istanbul at least the influential chief of his cabinet Andry Ermak and Foreign Minister Andri Sibiha.
Putin did not comment on his negotiations, which was also confirmed by Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who announced that he would expect the negotiating countries in Istanbul.
The Russian question mark
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that there will be a Russian delegation in Istanbul, but its composition will be announced when the Russian president decides to do so.
Recently, Brazilian President Louis Inasio Lula da Silva said he spoke today on the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and encouraged him to attend the negotiations. However, he does not say a word about the response of the Russian president.
On Wednesday night, the Russian newspaper Komensant announced that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would not participate in negotiations in Turkey, disproving some publications in the Russian and Western press that the first diplomat would lead the Russian negotiating team.
The absence of Lavrov automatically increased the chances of Putin not to travel and to reduce the Russian delegation to a technical level by the President’s advisers, including those who have participated in the negotiations with the United States, Kiril Dmitriev and Yuri Ushakov. But in the end, they didn’t even fall into it.
The Ukrainian team
After President Trump called on Volodimir Zelenski to join the negotiations with Putin, the Ukrainian head of state agreed surprisingly quickly, saying he would travel to Turkey, regardless of Moscow’s decision, but that the chance of making significant progress would only be a person if the Russian president participates in the negotiations.
Ukraine to accept negotiations immediately, Trump insisted, waiting for a truce and going in person, replied Zelenski
On Wednesday, the US head of state Donald Trump, who was mediated to reach the end of war, said the Russian president had signaled that he would travel to Istanbul if Trump was there.
Trump said he himself was still considering whether to attend the negotiations in Turkey, but does not know if Putin will go, something that Zelenski caused the Kremlin leader to do, « if he is not afraid. »
| « (Putin) I would like to be there and this is possible … I don’t know if I will be there if I’m not there. We’ll find out, » Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Qatar. |
Putin wants Trump on negotiations in Istanbul
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday that the Ukrainian leadership will decide its next steps for peace talks in Turkey after there is clarity on Putin’s involvement.
The third on the table
Trump has said he will send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his special envoys to the Middle East Steve Whitkoff and to Ukraine Keith Kell in Turkey, while not excluding himself if he is present if there is a chance of significant progress.
Volodimir Golovko, historian: In Europe it is forgotten that Putin wants to destroy Ukrainians
Trump wants both sides to sign an agreement for a 30-day termination of fire, and a Russian legislator said on Wednesday that there may be discussions about a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war.
Zelenski immediately supports a 30-day termination of the fire, but Putin said he first wanted to start conversations to discuss the details of such an end to the fire.
