Conflicting information was received about the Russian-Ukrainian talks scheduled for Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul for most of Wednesday afternoon. The participants from the Russian side were not reported, and it was not clear whether Donald Trump would fly to Turkey. In addition, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unexpectedly offered his mediation services. It was only known for sure that American and Ukrainian delegations had arrived in Turkey.: negotiations between the foreign ministers of the NATO countries started there.
During the day before the Istanbul meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his position several times to various media outlets: he would speak only with Vladimir Putin. If negotiators of a lower rank arrive from the Russian side, Ukraine will cancel the negotiations. In this case, Zelensky emphasized, the United States and the West as a whole should fulfill their threats and transfer many weapons to the Ukrainians, as well as impose tough new anti-Russian sanctions. The Kremlin did not comment on the statements of the Ukrainian president in any way. Zelensky himself was going to Turkey on Thursday. As he said at his press conference, he is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on May 15. If Putin arrives in Istanbul that day, both presidents, Ukrainian and Turkish, will arrive there, Zelensky said.
Trump has not confirmed that he will fly to Istanbul. He only said that he had a busy schedule on May 15: the American president was supposed to be in the UAE on that day. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do it (visit Istanbul. – “NG”) to save many lives, and then come back,” Trump said, thereby further confusing and intriguing journalists.
The Brazilian president almost became the main newsmaker on Wednesday in connection with possible Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. Lula da Silva, ending his visit to Beijing, said there that he plans to stop in Moscow on his way home and maybe talk with the Russian president there.
“It doesn’t cost me anything to say: hey, Comrade Putin, fly to Istanbul and negotiate, damn it!” he told the press. The Brazilian president’s plane actually landed in Moscow. A few hours later, he flew away. At the time of signing the issue, there were no reports of a meeting between Lula da Silva and Putin.
But negotiations between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan definitely took place. It was the first meeting of the heads of the foreign ministries of the NATO countries, which is taking place in Antalya from May 14 to May 15. The meeting itself is informal, meaning it will not be accompanied by the signing of any binding documents. There was no special need to convene it, the Western press noted. But the meeting in Antalya provided a reason for the arrival of foreign delegations to Turkey, including the American one. On Wednesday, the US President’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed that he would arrive in Istanbul. According to him, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be with him. However, both of them will arrive in Istanbul only on May 16, when, in theory, the Russian-American negotiations should end, if they happen at all.
As it followed from what Sibiga said after the meeting with Fidan, Ukraine is counting on only one result of the Istanbul meeting: the achievement of a truce. Recall that Putin, proposing to hold direct Ukrainian-Russian talks in Istanbul, said that they should be aimed not only at this, but also, in particular, at eliminating the root cause of the conflict between the two countries. This means that if a dialogue takes place in a Turkish city, it will be obviously difficult.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed his attitude to the upcoming negotiations on Wednesday. “I think it is extremely important that international law prevails at such a moment. The day we renounce the protection of international law, we will pave the way for chaos around the world,” he said at a conference on peacekeeping that opened in Berlin. Guterres offered “any assistance” from the United Nations to the negotiators, “if they agree to it and ask for it.” Thus, the number of people willing to mediate between the Russian Federation and Ukraine has also been replenished by this organization. n