Zelenskyy's Face-to-face Wish With Putin At Istanbul Sirna, Peaceful Negotiations Will Be In Vain?

Russian President Vladimir Putin/PHOTO via Instagram @russian_kremlin

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his officials and deputy ministers to hold peace negotiations with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday.

Putin rejected Kyiv's challenge to come directly there to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin previously proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, while Zelenskyy said he would wait for the Kremlin leader.

But after making the world wonder for days about Putin's plans, the Kremlin on Wednesday night appointed delegates who did not include the president.

It is not clear how Ukraine will respond to this condition. Negotiations if they occur in Istanbul are deemed not to produce a main agreement, because the main characters who are awaited do not come.

Reported by Reuters on Thursday, May 15, there was confusion in the Turkish city, where journalists gathered near the Dolmabahce palace office that Russia had designated as a place for talks. Turkish officials did not provide information about the time or location.

Russian news agency TASS said talks would begin at 07.00 GMT, but a Ukrainian official denied this, saying there had been no agreement on when talks would begin.

Zelenskyy, who will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday, previously said he did not want to talk to anyone on the Russian side except Putin.

The Kremlin said Putin - which is also threatened with stricter European sanctions to "strangled" Russia's economy - did not respond to ultimatums.

The two sides last held face-to-face talks - also in Istanbul - in March 2022, just weeks after Putin sent his troops to Ukraine.

Both are trying to show US President Donald Trump they are serious about peace, as he urged them to end what he called "this stupid war". Washington has repeatedly threatened to stop its diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict unless there is clear progress.

Having severely pressed Ukraine and clashed with Zelenskyy at a meeting in the Oval Room on the moon, Trump has shown growing unpreparedness against Putin in recent weeks and threatens additional sanctions to beat Russia's trade.

Trump, who is on a visit to three countries in the Middle East, said on Thursday he would go to talks in Turkey on Friday "if that's right".

The Russian delegation appointed by the Kremlin is led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and includes deputy defense minister, deputy foreign minister, and the head of the military intelligence agency GRU.

The Kremlin said Putin had held late-night meetings with ministers, military commanders, and spy chiefs to discuss upcoming talks.

Sources involved on the Ukrainian side in the March 2022 talks in Istanbul said Medinsky - who was also leading the Russian team at the time - had no strong mandate to make decisions.

"The most important point is that people who will actually sit at the negotiating table are not necessarily key players," said the source.

Estonia, a member of the EU and NATO who strongly supports Ukraine, said Putin gave a "slap on the face" by sending a low-level team.

With Russian troops in control of nearly a fifth of Ukraine, Putin has adhered to his long-standing demands for Kyiv to give up his territory, abandon his NATO membership ambitions, and become a neutral country.

Ukraine rejects this requirement because it is considered tantamount to surrendering, and seeking future security guarantees from world powers, especially the United States.