Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul – apparently there was significant progress. The news ticker for the negotiations.
- Ukraine conflict*: The negotiators of Ukraine and Russia meet for negotiations at Erdogan’s invitation in Turkey.
- Russia announces plans to scale back attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv (see update from March 29, 4:34 p.m.). However, according to Russia’s negotiator Medinski, this is not a ceasefire (see update from March 29, 5:31 p.m.).
- Ukraine demands security guarantees in the form of an ‘international agreement’ (see update from March 29, 3:09 p.m.).
- This News ticker on the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the war is continuously updated. More on the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.
Update from March 29, 5:31 p.m.: Russia’s negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has classified the announced military de-escalation around Kyiv and Chernihiv in more detail. “This is not a ceasefire, but our efforts to gradually de-escalate the conflict, at least in these directions,” Medinski told the Russian state broadcaster after talks with representatives of Ukraine in Istanbul rt.
The Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin had previously promised that his country’s troops would significantly reduce their combat operations on the northern front near Kyiv and Chernihiv. “Russia has taken two big steps towards peace,” added Medinsky. He found that Ukraine had also taken a step forward with proposals formulated in writing. However, Moscow expects further concessions from the Ukrainian side.
Update from March 29, 4:34 p.m: After today’s peace negotiations, the Russian side announced that they would reduce the attacks on Kyiv and Chernihiv. Despite this, Russia wants to continue its “special military operation” in Ukraine. “It is going strictly according to plan,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency. The tasks and goals would continue to be met. It is still about the “demilitarization of Ukraine, denazification,” said Zakharova.
Ukraine negotiations: positive signals from Russia – open to Ukraine’s EU membership?
Update from March 29, 4:17 p.m: Russia is apparently open to Ukraine joining the EU. Following the peace talks in Istanbul, Kremlin chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said: “Russia does not oppose Ukraine’s attempts to join the EU.” Kyiv Independent via Twitter.
Update from March 29, 3:53 p.m: After the unexpected progress in Russia-Ukraine negotiations (see update from 2.55 p.m) there are more positive signals coming from Moscow: the Kremlin wants to remain in dialogue with the USA – despite the recent discord over statements by US President Joe Biden. Biden’s “personal insults” to Russian President Vladimir Putin would have a “negative impact” on relations between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.
“Nevertheless, dialogue between Russia and the United States is necessary in any case,” emphasized Peskov. “It’s not only in the interests of both countries, but in the interests of the whole world.” Sooner or later, Russia and the United States will have to talk about issues of strategic stability and security.
Ukraine negotiations: First results of the peace negotiations
Update from March 29, 3:09 p.m: According to the Ukrainian chief negotiator David Arachamia, the results of Istanbul are “sufficient” for a meeting of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj with Kremlin chief Putin.
The Ukrainian side also called for an “international agreement” in Istanbul to guarantee Ukraine’s security. Several countries should be the guarantors as signatory states, explained Arachamia after the talks in Istanbul, which lasted several hours. “We want an international mechanism for security guarantees, in which the guarantor states would behave in accordance with Article 5 of NATO and in an even stricter form.”
Breakthrough in Ukraine talks? Kremlin announces “treaty” – first effects visible
Update from March 29, 2:55 p.m: Russia wants to significantly reduce its “military activities” in Ukraine near Kyiv and Chernihiv. This was decided in view of the course of the negotiations with Ukraine, said Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin on Tuesday after the talks in Istanbul.
The move should serve to build mutual trust and create the conditions for further negotiations, Fomin said. Ukraine is in the process of preparing a treaty on a neutral status of the country without nuclear weapons. Russia assumes that Ukraine will make appropriate decisions on this. Detailed information about the Istanbul agreements should be available after the delegation’s return to Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian general staff announced that the withdrawal of individual units of the Russian armed forces was being observed in the area around the capital Kyiv and the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.
Update from March 29, 2:28 p.m: Apparently, the first results of the negotiations have already emerged: the Russian military wants to massively reduce its attacks around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the city of Chernihiv. The Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the intention was to de-escalate the conflict.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations ended: Kuleba gave meaningful warning to delegation
Update from March 29, 1:58 p.m: The delegations of Ukraine and Russia have completed their round of negotiations in Istanbul. This was reported by the Turkish state broadcaster TRT about four hours after the start of the peace talks.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had previously called on the members of his own delegation to be cautious at the peace negotiations. Ukrainian media quoted Kuleba as advising: “Don’t drink, eat or touch any surfaces.”
Ukraine negotiations: Russia denies poisoning allegations again
Update from March 29, 1:32 p.m: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed the presence of oligarch Roman Abramovich at the new round of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Istanbul. However, Abramovich was not an official member of the Russian delegation, but should ensure “certain contacts” between the two sides.
The Kremlin has described reports of the alleged poisoning of Abramovich as part of an “information war”. “This is part of an information campaign, part of information sabotage, this is part of an information war,” Peskov told the agency on Tuesday interfax according to. “These reports are definitely not true.”
Update from March 29, 1:13 p.m: The media platform Nexta According to Russia, a total of ten diplomats from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have been expelled. Russian diplomats had previously been expelled from the Baltic states.
Ukraine negotiations: France demands end of the siege of Mariupol
Update from March 29, 12:45 p.m: French President Emmanuel Macron and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin* want to discuss ways out of the Ukraine war again on Tuesday afternoon. A phone call between the two presidents is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., it said from the Élysée Palace in Paris. The Kremlin confirmed the planned call.
Macron had announced in advance that he was going to coordinate with Russia on an evacuation mission for the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol. France is striving for the relief operation together with Turkey and Greece. As a condition, France called for Russia to lift the siege of the city.
Ukraine negotiations in Turkey: Russia apparently waived “denazification” demand
Update from March 29, 12:30 p.m.: Russia is apparently dropping one of its most provocative negotiating demands on Ukraine: “denazification” is no longer part of the Kremlin’s list of demands, the reports Financial Times. It is also conceivable that Ukraine could join the EU as long as the country does not join a military alliance. Locating the Ukrainian government in ideological proximity to Nazis is one of the Kremlin’s numerous controversial claims. The word “denazification” was commonly understood as a covert plan for a coup.
The representatives of President Volodymyr Zelenskyj are also willing to talk: his government wanted to at least examine possible neutrality. Zelenskyy has also de facto put a NATO membership on hold – probably also due to the current lack of receptiveness on the part of the alliance.
Ukraine negotiations in Turkey: Russia makes tough demands – Ukrainians skeptical
First report/overview: Istanbul – About four and a half weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, delegations from Ukraine and Russia met for a new round of negotiations in Istanbul. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the negotiators at the President’s office in Dolmabahce on Tuesday morning. After that, the two delegations wanted to meet for talks. It is in the hands of both sides to end the “tragedy,” Erdogan said. Everyone would benefit from an immediate ceasefire.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister skeptical about negotiations in Turkey: “Our position is concrete”
However, the Ukrainian foreign minister had previously expressed skepticism about the prospects of success. “If we see that the mood has changed and they are ready for serious, substantive talks and balanced agreements, then things will move forward,” said Dmytro Kuleba. “If it’s a repeat of their propaganda, the talks will fail again.”
The Ukrainian side’s minimum goal is to improve the humanitarian situation in cities besieged by Russian troops, such as Mariupol*. The desired goal is a stable ceasefire in the Ukraine war*. Kubela again pointed out the red lines of the Ukrainian government: “We do not trade people, land and sovereignty. Our position is concrete.”
The Russian negotiators arrived in the Turkish metropolis on Monday, where an earlier round of negotiations at foreign minister level had taken place on March 10 – albeit without any result. The talks then continued via video conference. Before that there were already three meetings in the border area of Belarus. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that there had been no “significant progress” so far.
Ukraine war: Russia makes tough demands – Selenskyj demands talks with Putin
Erdogan, who has good relations with Kyiv and Moscow, was optimistic about the Ukraine war on Monday evening. However, negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations are proving to be extremely difficult. Kyiv wants a withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees. Moscow is demanding that Ukraine renounce NATO and recognize the breakaway eastern Ukrainian separatist areas as separate states and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as part of Russia.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* had recently shown himself willing to talk about the neutrality of his country demanded by Russia. However, he had emphasized that any agreement should be decided in a referendum. He had also asked for a personal meeting with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin*, which the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had recently rejected as “counterproductive”. (md with dpa and AFP) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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