Russia and Ukraine begin a second round of talks in Istanbul – Liberation
The prospect of the end of the war launched by Russia almost three and a half years ago still seems very distant. But Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet again this Monday, June 2 in Istanbul on Monday, June 2. The emissaries of Kyiv landed on Turkish soil around 8 am French time.
The two countries had already initiated first direct discussions on May 16 in the Metropolis Stambouliote, but the meeting had been not very successful, only succeeding in an exchange of prisoners.
Nothing says that this new meeting is more productive, especially since the fighting is continuing. This Monday morning, the Russian army announced that it had killed 162 Ukrainian drones, the majority of which targeted the regions of Koursk and Belgorod.
Sunday, Ukraine also led one of its most daring attacks on Russian soilto Siberia. A vast coordinated drone assault on four Russian military aerodromes has affected several dozen planes, including strategic bombers, according to Ukrainian security services (SBU).
The new cycle of negotiations must start this Monday at 1 p.m. Monday (noon in Paris) at the Palais Ciragan, an Ottoman imperial residence on the banks of the Bosphorus that has become a luxury hotel since. The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov spoke on Sunday on the phone on Sunday with his American counterpart Marco Rubio about these talks, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted by the TASS agency. Russia had announced that it would present a « memorandum » From her conditions for a peace agreement, which she refused to transmit in advance to Ukraine as kyiv demanded.
The two parties are very far from an agreement, whether a truce or a longer term regulation. Ukraine’s priorities are « A complete and unconditional ceasefire »And THE « Return of prisoners » And Ukrainian children that kyiv accuses Moscow of having kidnapped, said on social networks on Sunday Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president also wishes a direct meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Perspective that the Kremlin has repelled several times.
Moscow refuses the « Unconditional ceasefire » requested by kyiv and the Westerners and insists on regulating what she calls them « Deep Causes » conflict, in reference to a series of maximalist requests. Russia notably requires that Ukraine definitively renounces to join NATO And gives her the five regions of which she claims the annexation.
These conditions are unacceptable for kyiv, which requires a pure and simple withdrawal of the Russian troops from its territory in return. Ukraine also wants concrete security guarantees, supported by Westerners, such as NATO protection or the presence of Western troops on the ground, which Russia excludes. The war, which has lasted for more than three years, has made at least tens of thousands of civil and military deaths in both camps.
The main Russian negotiator in Istanbul will be Vladimir Medinski, an ideological advisor by Vladimir Putin who led the aborted negotiations of 2022, who wrote textbooks justifying the invasion and questioned the right to the existence of Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation will be led by the Minister of Defense Roustem Oumerov, considered as a fine negotiator but whose ministry remains entangled in scandals.
Of the « Diplomatic advisers » from Germany, France and Great Britain will be « On the field (…) in close coordination with the Ukrainian negotiation team »a spokesman for the German government said in Berlin on Sunday.
On the ground, Kyiv is struggling, the troops of Moscow having progressed in recent days, especially in the Ukrainian region of Soumy (northeast). Russia might want to trigger a new offensive in order to create a buffer zone and prevent Ukrainian incursions on its own territory, as last summer in the neighboring region of Koursk.
