The Russia-Ukraine negotiations are going nowhere. A close Zelenskyj adviser is now making four demands on the West – not just weapons. The news ticker.
- Escalated Ukraine conflict*: A Zelenskyj* advisor demands four concrete steps from the West to help Ukraine against Russia (see first report).
- Is Russia Speaking a Double Game? expert speaks out (see update from March 23, 12:51 p.m.).
- Negotiations with Russia are “quite difficult” according to Ukraine (see update from March 23, 1:25 p.m.). Russia, in turn, accuses the United States of obstructing talks with Kyiv (see update from March 23, 1:40 p.m.).
- This News ticker on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations is continuously updated. The background to the Ukraine crisis* can be found here.
Update from March 23, 1:40 p.m.: The Russian government has accused the US of obstructing negotiations with Kyiv over the Ukraine war. “The talks are tough, the Ukrainian side is constantly changing its position,” said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He blamed the USA above all for this: Washington apparently wanted to “keep us in a state of military action for as long as possible”. The US government “considers it simply to its disadvantage if this process is ended quickly,” Lavrov said.
“Many would like to ensure that the negotiations reach an impasse,” added the Russian foreign minister, referring to Poland. “Western countries want to play a mediating role. We’re not against it, but we have red lines.” Lavrov also accused the West of “throwing arms” at Ukraine. Ukraine also spoke of difficult negotiations with Russia (see update from March 23, 1:25 p.m.) – but dismissed the Russian accusation of constantly changing their position.
Ukraine-Russia talks: Talks complicated, according to both sides
Update from March 23, 1:25 p.m.: The Ukraine-Russia negotiations on an end to hostilities are, according to both sides, complicated. “Negotiations are quite difficult because the Ukrainian side takes clear and fundamental positions,” Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said on Wednesday, according to local media. Head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyj has repeatedly made the key issues clear. Moscow also spoke of sluggish negotiations.
In a speech to the Japanese parliament, the Ukrainian head of state also lamented the failure of the United Nations to prevent the Ukraine war. “Neither the United Nations nor the UN Security Council worked. Reforms are needed.”
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats – Moscow threatens
Update from March 23, 1:20 p.m.: Poland has declared 45 Russian diplomats undesirable. This was announced by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lukasz Jasina, according to the PAP news agency on Wednesday in Warsaw. With one exception, the Russian diplomats now have to leave the country within five days. An employee of the embassy even has to leave the country within 48 hours. Poland accuses them of espionage.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced an “appropriate response”. According to the TASS agency, Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreyev, criticized that there was “no basis whatsoever” for the decision from Warsaw. He himself is not affected. When asked whether diplomatic relations between the two countries still existed at all, Andreyev said: “Formally, they exist.”
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: double game by Putin?
Update from March 23, 12:51 p.m.: Are the protracted negotiations with Ukraine over alleged peace efforts just an excuse for Russia to play a double game? At least that’s what military expert Carlo Masala believes in the magazine’s podcast star.
The political scientist at the Bundeswehr University in Munich believes that Russia is pursuing a very specific strategy. Russia’s negotiators would be diplomatic in talks with Ukraine. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly interposed demands that were actually already off the negotiating table.
An example is the demand for a “denazification” of Ukraine, in which the negotiators* actually did not speak anymore in the negotiations, but then asked Putin again in an angry speech in the cabinet last week. The military expert believes that this is not a matter of differences of opinion between Putin and his negotiators, but of a clear strategic allocation of roles in order to gain time for the reorganization of their army.
First report: Russia-Ukraine negotiations – Selenskyj adviser calls for four steps from the West
First report: Kyiv – The Ukraine-Russia talks are faltering. Instead of diplomatic successes, there are new bombings, mutual accusations and the fear that the Ukraine war could go on for a long time and become even more brutal*.
Ukraine never tires of calling for more support from its partners and the West to withstand Russian attacks and end the suffering caused by the Ukraine war. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak has now turned to the West with four specific demands.
Podoliak plays an important role in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, was a negotiator in the talks between the two countries in Belarus and is an adviser to the President’s office in Kyiv. The 50-year-old has already published several video messages via Twitter, in which he, like the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj*, mostly shows himself in olive-green clothes
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: Zelenskyj adviser makes four specific demands
On Wednesday, Podoljak wrote on Twitter: “Dear partners! It takes four steps to avoid seeing our dead children in our dreams or smelling the burned Mariupol: 1. Modern anti-aircraft defenses if you can’t close the sky, 2. Cruise missiles or heavy rocket shells, 3. A strict Oil embargo, 4. Closed ports for Russian ships anywhere in the world.”
The presidential adviser is calling for more arms deliveries to Ukraine if there is no no-fly zone over Ukraine. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz * had given a clear rejection of this on Wednesday. Scholz as well as NATO reject the no-fly zone because they fear that it will become a direct war party in the Ukraine-Russia war.
Germany is also hesitant about Podoliak’s demand for an oil embargo on Russia. Scholz said on Wednesday that this would currently do too much damage to his own country and possibly plunge him into a severe recession.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations: Russia warns NATO against interfering in the Ukraine war
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, February 23, Russia warned of a NATO peacekeeping mission* in Ukraine. “That would be a very thoughtless and extremely dangerous decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. “Every possible clash between our soldiers and NATO soldiers can have understandable consequences that are difficult to remedy.”
An extraordinary NATO summit is scheduled for Thursday in Brussels, to which US President Joe Biden is also expected. At the summit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the support of the NATO countries for Ukraine and the further strengthening of deterrence and defense against Russia will be discussed. (dpa/afp/smu) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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