Ukraine-Russia peace talks meet reality
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ISTANBUL, Turkey — Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations, but officials and observers expected ...
While President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky work to set up a bilateral Russia-Ukraine summit, Moscow is making new demands that could cancel out the White House’s recent successes in seeking an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Russia calls the talks a ‘restart’ The Kremlin billed Thursday’s talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in 2022 but quickly fell apart.
They turned it down,” Putin said in 2023. The Kremlin has said repeatedly “the Istanbul agreements” could serve as a basis for further peace talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday that the Kremlin would accept international security guarantees for Ukraine only if they match what his government had proposed during the Istanbul peace talks of early 2022.
Geneva, Istanbul and Budapest have been put forward as potential locations - but bilateral talks still remain a long way off.
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bne IntelliNews on MSNWestern reliance of peacekeepers and arms sales in lieu of real security guarantees doom Russo-Ukraine peace talks to failure
By Ben Aris in Berlin Thecoalition of the willing plan to rely on sending “reassurance forces” to Ukraine and buy Kyiv $100bn worth of new US weapons in lieu of giving Kyiv real collective security guarantees will doom imminent Russo-Ukraine peace negotiations to failure before they start.
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The Kyiv Independent on MSNPutin discusses Ukraine war with Erdogan before potential meeting with Zelensky
Russian President Vladimir Putin "noted with satisfaction Turkey's assistance in hosting talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul," the Kremlin reported.