Putin dynamites talks with Ukraine with impossible demands

MoscowExpectations were minimal, but the results were nil. The first talks between Russia and Ukraine in three years were doomed from the moment Vladimir Putin's envoys demanded that the Ukrainian army withdraw from the parts of the regions that Moscow annexed to the Constitution, but which are under Kiev control. This was the condition that the Russian delegation set for accepting the ceasefire requested by Volodymyr Zelensky.

Sources from the Ukrainian delegation have lamented in various media outlets that the demands of the Kremlin emissaries were "out of touch with reality" and "went far beyond" any previously discussed scenarios. Furthermore, according to The EconomistIn response to the Kiev delegation's refusal to comply with Moscow's demands, the Russian delegation threatened to annex two more provinces in addition to Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia: Sumi and Kharkiv. A Ukrainian MP, Oleksi Gonkhareko, explained that Russia had demanded the creation of a security zone to guarantee the truce in Sumi, where Moscow's troops are conducting an offensive.

Despite the obvious disagreement, the parties agreed to present their detailed proposals for a ceasefire, in order to discuss it further later. The only tangible agreement from the meeting was an exchange of prisoners of war, 1,000 for each side, the largest since the start of the war, on a date that they did not want to reveal.

At the end of the meeting, the leader of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinski, expressed his "satisfaction" with the outcome of the talks and stated that they are "ready to continue contacts." He added that the Ukrainian delegation has demanded "direct negotiations" between Putin and Zelensky and said that "they will take it into account."

As he also explained in The Economist A source involved in the talks, Medinsky, a passionate Russian history buff and one of the Kremlin's revisionist ideologues, commented: "We don't want war, but we are prepared to fight for a year, two, three, as long as it takes. We fought for Sweden for 21 years. How long are you prepared to fight? England and France. Sweden would still be a great power today if it weren't for that." Medinsky added: "Perhaps some of those sitting at this table will lose more loved ones. Russia is prepared to fight forever."

The negotiations, held at the Dolmabahce Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus, lasted two hours and were ultimately held with the mediation of Turkey, represented by its Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan. Before beginning, Fidan gave a welcoming speech in which he called for an immediate truce. "As the war continues, we must end the fire," he said, adding that "there are two paths: one leads to peace; the second will lead to even greater destruction." He also suggested that this meeting will determine a possible future meeting between Putin and Zelensky.

Vetoes and minimum expectations

Just before these talks, there was a three-way meeting at the same location between the Ukrainian delegation, representatives of Turkey, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And even before that, according to the Ukrainian media, SuspilneUmerov, accompanied by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiha and Zelensky's advisor Andri Iermak, met with Trump's special envoy, Keith Kellogg, and several French, British, and German advisors. Suspilne, Moscow had also opposed The US presence in the Russian-Ukrainian talksThis has caused discomfort in the Kiev delegation. A source explained to this media outlet that it is "an attempt to disrupt the peace process, to undermine it." "If they really came to solve the problem, to take steps toward peace, then they should be interested in having the Americans in the room to see it," he added.

Earlier, Medinski spoke alone with a State Department official, Michael Anton, although not with Rubio, who in the previous hours had been particularly pessimistic about possible progress. "I hope I'm 100 percent wrong and that we can see a ceasefire. But, honestly, I doubt it. We need Trump to intervene directly," he said.