Russia says it is ready to resume talks with Ukraine. The ball is in Ukraine’s court. The news ticker on diplomacy in the Ukraine war.
- Escalated Ukraine conflict: There is a new push towards one Prisoner exchange in Mariupol.
- In focus: Viktor Medvedchuka close friend of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
- Of the oligarch and Ukrainian politicians is currently under in Ukraine house arrest.
- Russia is ready to start negotiations to continue with Ukraine.
- This news ticker on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations and on war diplomacy is continuously updated.
Update from May 23, 7:01 a.m: The Baltic states have stopped importing electricity from Russia because of the Ukraine war. “This is an important step on our way to energy independence,” Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told AFP. “By refusing to import Russian energy resources, we are refusing to finance the aggressor,” the minister said.
Russian electricity accounted for 17 percent of Lithuania’s electricity imports last year. Latvia imported its last Russian electricity in early May, while Lithuania and Estonia stopped purchasing electricity on Sunday.
The Baltic States had been working for years to gain energy independence from Moscow. To do this, they expanded domestic power generation on the one hand and strengthened connections to Scandinavia on the other.
During Ukraine war: Putin meets Lukashenko in Sochi
Update from May 23, 6:08 a.m: Vladimir Putin resigns Alexander Lukashenko: Russia’s President wants to meet with the Belarusian ruler in Sochi this Monday. The central topic is the integration cooperation between the two countries in a union state, the Interfax agency said at night.
Since the controversial presidential election in 2020, in which Lukashenko declared himself the winner without recognition from the West, Minsk has become increasingly dependent on Moscow. Lukashenko emphasizes that Belarus will remain independent. But a union state between the two countries that had only existed on paper for a long time is increasingly taking shape. International political observers consider the possibility of Belarus joining Russia to be quite real.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: Moscow wants to continue talks with Kyiv
Update from May 22, 9:35 p.m.: According to its chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine. “For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue,” Medinsky said in an interview with Belarusian state television on Sunday. The ball is in the field of Ukraine, at whose instigation the talks were suspended. “Russia has never refused negotiations,” Medinsky said.
Ukraine negotiations: Poland Andrzej Duda delivers a speech in the Ukrainian parliament
Update from May 22, 1:08 p.m: Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has given a speech in the Ukrainian parliament – as the first foreign head of state since the start of the Ukraine war on February 24. Nobody can disturb Polish-Ukrainian unity, said Duda in his speech, which Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko published live on Facebook.
The parliamentarians rose again and again to applaud the guest from Poland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also present. Duda’s solidarity visit was surprisingly announced in the morning. The 50-year-old traveled to Ukraine for the second time since the outbreak of war. Among other things, Duda is committed to ensuring that the neighboring country is granted EU candidate status as quickly as possible.
Almost 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since the Russian war of aggression began on February 24. Poland has granted by far the largest number of the approximately 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine. Around 44 million people lived in Ukraine before the start of the war.
Diplomacy in the Ukraine war: According to a report, Lithuania stops energy imports from Russia
May 22 update at 12:18 p.m: Lithuania stops its energy imports from Russia. He reports that Kyiv Independentand tweeted that the country would be the first Baltic state to take this step.
May 22 update at 11:27 am: Russia has imposed travel bans on more US citizens. The renowned Washington Post calls this a “largely symbolic step” and went through the list of 963 people expanded on Saturday (May 21). The US newspaper noticed that it included, for example, US President Joe Biden, his vicar Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken – but not ex-US President Donald Trump.
Neither did she Washington Post on the list of employees of the conservative US broadcaster Fox News. The channel has long been said to be close to Trump. Representatives from other US media like the New York Times or CNN have now been sanctioned by Moscow.
Critics had accused the right-wing populist Trump of being too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure. The entry ban list is a reaction by the Kremlin to the fact that Washington had imposed entry bans because of the Ukraine war.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: oligarch and Putin friend against Azov fighters?
first report: Moscow – He is a Russian oligarch and is considered a Putin confidant: Viktor Medvedchuk. A possible exchange of Medvechuk for captured Ukrainian fighters from the Azov regiment is now under discussion. “We will study the issue,” Russian foreign policy chief and negotiator Leonid Slutsky said on May 21. This is reported by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.
The Ukrainian politician and entrepreneur Medvedchuk, who is one of the richest people in the country, was accused of high treason in Ukraine last year and placed under house arrest. However, shortly after the start of the Ukraine war on February 24, he went into hiding before being arrested in mid-April. Weeks ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested exchanging Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners.
Ukraine negotiations: Putin ally Medvechuk against Azov fighters?
On Friday (May 20) Moscow reported the “complete liberation” of the Azov steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. The last soldiers in the industrial complex, including members of the Azov regiment, surrendered, the Russian army said. They had holed up in the bunkers for weeks and defended the port city against the Russian occupiers.
The Azov regiment is described by Moscow as “neo-Nazi”. Next Thursday, Russia’s highest court is due to consider an application to classify the regiment as a “terrorist organization,” which could make it more difficult to exchange these prisoners.
After the capture of Mariupol, however, several politicians in Russia also spoke out against a prisoner exchange and called for the Mariupol fighters to be brought to justice. Slutski later said the same thing, partially correcting his statement. He announced via Telegram that the Azov fighters would have to be brought to justice in any case. (AFP/dpa/frs)
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