Putin snubs Ukraine peace talks
ISTANBUL—Russian President Vladimir Putin sent aides and deputy ministers to hold peace talks with Ukraine in Turkiye on Thursday, spurning Kyiv’s challenge to go there in person to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul and Zelenskyy had said he would be waiting for the Kremlin leader.
But after keeping the world guessing for days about Putin’s plans, the Kremlin late on Wednesday named a lower-level delegation that did not include the president and was described by Kyiv’s European allies as a snub.
It was unclear how Ukraine —which has so far not publicly committed to send anyone to talks in Istanbul or to name a delegation—would respond.
A Ukrainian official said Zelenskyy—who has said he will not speak to anyone on the Russian side except Putin—would make a decision about the talks after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later on Thursday in Ankara.
Confusion
There was confusion in Istanbul, where reporters were gathered near the Dolmabahce palace that the Russians had specified as the talks venue.
A Ukrainian official said there had been no agreement on when talks might begin. Turkish officials have given no information on the time or location, but Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he hoped the talks would open a new chapter.
Zelenskyy had goaded Putin earlier this week by questioning if he was brave enough to show up. The Kremlin says Putin—who is also under threat of even tighter European sanctions to “suffocate” Russia’s economy—does not respond to ultimatums.
The warring sides last held face-to-face talks—also in Istanbul—in March 2022, only weeks after Putin sent his army into Ukraine.
Both are trying to show US President Donald Trump they are serious about peace, as he presses them to end what he calls “this stupid war.” Washington has threatened repeatedly to abandon its diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict unless there is clear progress.
Lower expectations
After leaning heavily on Ukraine and clashing with Zelenskyy at a meeting in the Oval Office in February, Trump has shown increasing impatience with Putin in recent weeks and threatened additional sanctions to hit Russian trade. Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, said on Thursday he would go to the talks in Turkey on Friday “if it is appropriate.”
The confirmed absence of Putin lowers the expectations for a major breakthrough in the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
Zelenskyy backs an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a truce could be discussed.
No military solution
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a Nato meeting in Turkiye, said there was no military solution to the conflict, and Trump was open to “virtually any mechanism” that would lead to peace.
The Russian delegation named by the Kremlin is headed by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and includes a deputy defense minister, a deputy foreign minister and the head of the GRU military intelligence agency.
