Posted on 05/14/2025 3:02:27 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
Ignoring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to meet for direct high-level talks in Turkey, Russian leader Vladimir Putin dispatched to Istanbul a team of junior officials, making it uncertain that negotiations between the warring nations would occur at all.
The Russian team is set to be led by Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky and deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin, the same men whom Putin dispatched to negotiate Ukraine’s surrender in the early days of the war. The last session of these talks occurred in Istanbul in March 2022, and the negotiations fell apart as Russia suffered a military defeat and withdrew its forces from Kyiv and other parts of northern Ukraine.
Zelensky, who is slated to arrive in Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday for separate talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said he would be ready to meet with Putin if the Russian leader also came to Turkey. President Trump, who has made ending the war in Ukraine his key foreign-policy priority, has also indicated he might have attended.
But Putin’s decision to send junior officials instead foreclosed the possibility of any breakthrough, Western diplomats say. By naming Medinsky, a former culture minister, as head of the delegation, they say, Putin has indicated that he’s unwilling to budge and seeks the same objectives as in 2022: the end of Ukraine as a sovereign state that is able to defend itself.
Senior U.S. officials are also headed to Istanbul, though it isn’t clear whom they would meet and when.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
A meeting which was Putin’s idea.
Putin is a very evil and destructive person.
It’s possible he doesn’t want to be there if Russia is going to accept a ceasefire. Let’s see.
So Zelensky was going to be in Turkey anyways?
No, it’s standard protocol that initial negotiations are not conducted by heads of state. For very good reasons.
Putin offered direct talks, not a meeting between heads of state.
And there’s no way the Russians will accept that idiotic ceasefire. Why should they?
Going forward, one will be finding more and more doing something like that.
Svoboda and Sich will likely not ignore him, as time passes.
Let’s remember you said that nostradamus.
ZEEPER FOLLIES PINGLIST!(((PING!)))
Informal meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs NATO, 14 May 2025
Fine. Yes, let’s remember!
Sounds like President Trump chose wisely
The constant back and forth with childish names is so tiring and idiotic
“Please note that the accreditation process is taking longer than anticipated.”
Ha! Gotta make sure only globo-friendly media outlets are allowed in!
Rutte is such a tool. But I must admit, he’s very good at being one.
Putin is not serious about peace and this is the proof. He has sent two ass clowns who will make the same unreasonable demands that amount to Ukraine’s total surrender, instead of coming himself. Clearly Putin is a very frightened little man. He would rather continue the slaughter to save his own worthless neck. [spit]
I'll put you down as a Zeeper. Thanks.
Now that the latest Fairy Tale has ended maybe we can get back to reality.
He's very good.....
Sending the junior varsity instead of Lavrov was Putin’s answer to Zelensky’s antics. Well played. Trump is likely chuckling in private.
ROFL!!!
He rides a bike like Obama! That is so hilarious!
“The Russian team is set to be led by Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky and deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin”
I’d say sending the #2 person from the most powerful military to the negotiations is FAR from a “Junior Team”.
...but then again, the Neocons are again mad at being OUTSMARTED by Putin.
As it is, if Ukraine wants peace, the right people are there to begin the negotiations.
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