Hope for Ukraine negotiations?

The Kremlin is now apparently waiving the delicate demand

Created: 03/29/2022, 12:38 p.m

By: Florian Naumann, Marc Dimitriu

Erdogan at the meeting of Ukrainian and Russian negotiators.

© IMAGO/Sergey Karpuhin

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are speaking in Turkey today.

Central points become clear in advance.

News ticker on the Ukraine negotiations.

• Ukraine conflict*: The negotiators of Ukraine and Russia meet for negotiations at Erdogan's invitation in Turkey.

• The Russians make clear demands.

  The Ukrainian side is skeptical about the talks (

  see first report

  ).

• 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, 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, reports the

.

It is also conceivable that Ukraine could join the EU as long as the country does not join a military alliance.

Placing 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 Zelenskyy 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".

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