Ukraine negotiations: Russia probably ready to make concessions

Created: 2022-03-29Updated: 2022-03-29 12:21 PM

By: Lukas Zigo, Daniel Dillmann, Sonja Thomaser

Russia and Ukraine meet in Turkey for new peace talks.

Vladimir Putin seems to be giving in on at least one point.

• Russia* and Ukraine* are in talks about a ceasefire in the Ukraine war*.

• Delegations from Kyiv* and Moscow* are coming to Istanbul at the invitation of Turkey*.

• Will the negotiators of Vladimir Putin* and Volodymyr Zelenskyj* make a breakthrough in the Ukraine conflict*?

  All news in the Newsticker.

+++ 12.20 p.m .:

The peace negotiations in the Ukraine war have begun.

Ukraine and Russia sent delegations to Istanbul, Turkey.

From there, the Financial Times reports that Vladimir Putin's representatives have admitted that they will not use a narrative in the attack on Ukraine.

The Russian President is therefore ready to no longer call for the "denazification" of the entire Ukraine.

The Financial Times refers to four people who are said to be familiar with the negotiations.

According to a document from the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the demilitarization demanded by the Kremlin will not be on the agenda in Istanbul for the time being.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Selenskyj criticizes "conditional" sanctions 

+++ 6.35 a.m .:

Representatives of Russia and Ukraine want to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine on Tuesday in Istanbul for the first time in almost three weeks.

The talks are expected to last until Wednesday.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the key issues include "security guarantees and neutrality" and Ukraine's status as a "nuclear-weapon-free state". 

The delegations from Ukraine and Russia welcome the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Negotiations on a ceasefire in the Ukraine war continue in Istanbul.

© Murat Cetin Muhurdar/afp

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has criticized "conditional" sanctions.

There are indications that some sanctions, such as the Russian oil embargo, will be imposed if Russia uses chemical weapons against Ukraine.

"No words.

Just think where it all boils down to – waiting for chemical weapons.”

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: possible poison attack on oligarch Abramovich

+++ 8:25 p.m .:

The new round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia starts on Tuesday (03/29/2022) in Istanbul.

The delegations of Russia and Ukraine will meet at the Dolmabahce Presidential Office in Istanbul on Tuesday morning at around 09:30 CEST, the Turkish Presidential Office announced on Monday evening.

The Turkish side wants to meet with the delegations before the negotiations start, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

He hopes for an early ceasefire, he stressed.

+++ 8:00 p.m .:

The negotiations to end the Ukraine war are still opaque.

Participants in negotiations to end the war with Russia have denied reports that they were poisoned.

All members of the negotiating groups would work normally, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said on Monday (March 28, 2022), according to local media.

"In the information sector there is currently a lot of speculation, different versions of conspiracies and elements of one or the other information game."

The US newspaper Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that members of the delegation, including Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, were poisoned during the negotiations in early March.

The article appeared ahead of the negotiations scheduled for Tuesday in Istanbul.

+++ 7.15 p.m .:

With the start of the Ukraine war, Russian oligarchs became the focus of the West.

The best-known representative of his guild in Europe, oil oligarch Roman Abramovich*, is said to have been poisoned during peace talks.

As the Wall Street Journal reported, the Chelsea FC owner and two representatives of the Ukrainian delegation are said to have suffered from symptoms of poisoning after peace negotiations.

According to the Wall Street Journal and the Bellingcat platform, this is said to have happened during the negotiations of March 3rd and 4th.

The negotiations took place in Kyiv.

Abramovich was part of the delegation of Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov.

The Russian multi-billionaire and the two Ukrainian representatives complained about red and watery eyes.

The skin on his face and hands would have peeled off.

The three affected are now doing better and their lives are not in danger.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: talks planned for Tuesday

+++ 6.41 p.m .:

According to the Interfax agency, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov announced a new round of negotiations for Tuesday (03/29/2022).

"We expect that could theoretically happen tomorrow," Peskov told the news agency.

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinski, had previously announced that after around two weeks of online negotiations, a physical meeting was planned from Tuesday.

Negotiators from both sides had already met three times in the Belarusian border area for negotiations.

However, the negotiations are proving to be extremely difficult.

Kyiv, for example, wants Russian troops to withdraw and security guarantees.

Moscow, on the other hand, is demanding a NATO* renunciation and the recognition of the breakaway eastern Ukrainian separatist areas as separate states and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as part of Russia.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: According to the Kremlin, meetings between Zelenskyy and Putin are currently "counterproductive"

+++ 2.55 p.m .:

Moscow initially rejected a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin requested by Selenskyj.

Direct talks between the two heads of state would currently be "counterproductive," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In the Ukraine conflict, "a lot of problems have accumulated" in recent years.

Such a meeting must therefore be “well prepared”.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: According to the Kremlin, talks with Ukraine in Turkey can begin on Tuesday

+++ 1:11 p.m .:

According to the Kremlin, new personal peace negotiations between two delegations from Ukraine and Russia could begin on Tuesday in Istanbul.

"Today they will probably not continue there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to the Interfax agency.

"We expect that this could theoretically happen tomorrow." The Russian delegation head, Vladimir Medinski, had previously announced that after around two weeks of online negotiations, a personal meeting was planned from Tuesday.

The Ukrainian side initially spoke of the start of negotiations on Monday.

The newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda later wrote, citing its own sources, that the delegations would arrive in Istanbul on Monday but would not start talks until Tuesday.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Selenskyj urges quick peace

+++ 11.58 a.m .:

Before the resumption of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged peace “without delay”.

"Our goal is clear - peace and the restoration of normal life in our home country as quickly as possible," Zelenskyj said in a video message on Monday night (March 28, 2022).

According to the Ukrainian negotiator David Arachamia, the talks are to take place from Monday (March 28, 2022) to Wednesday (March 29, 2022) in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul.

It is the first time in weeks that a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators has been scheduled.

In the past few weeks, some rounds of talks had ended without a result, most recently only online negotiations had taken place.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Zelenskyj ready to discuss "neutral status".

+++ 9.45 a.m .:

In the negotiations on an end to the Ukraine war, the government in Kiev wants to “thoroughly” examine the question of the neutrality of the country demanded by Russia.

This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with several independent Russian media outlets on Sunday.

The parties to the conflict want to start a new round of negotiations in Istanbul on Monday (March 28, 2022) or Tuesday (March 29, 2022).

Neutrality of Ukraine is one of the main Russian demands in the ceasefire negotiations.

The Kremlin recently cited the model of Sweden or Austria as a possible role model.

With such a model of neutrality, Ukraine would have to refrain from joining NATO, which Selenskyj has already promised.

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Kyiv demands the demilitarization of Chernobyl by the UN

Update from Monday, March 28th, 2022, 6:43 a.m .:

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Iryna Wereshchuk, announced that the UN Security Council was demilitarizing Chernobyl and setting up a special mission there.

This is reported by the news portal The Kyiv Independent.

Since the first days of the invasion, Russian troops have controlled the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

 Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Russia changes tactics - Kyiv examines demands

+++ 9.45 p.m .:

The government in Kiev has announced that it will “thoroughly” examine the question of neutrality demanded by Russia in the negotiations on the future of Ukraine.

This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with several independent Russian media outlets on Sunday.

"This point of the negotiations is understandable to me and it is being discussed, it is being thoroughly examined."

Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Moscow and Kyiv send envoys to Turkey

Update from Sunday, March 27th, 2022, 8:12 p.m .:

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized US President Joe Biden’s comments towards Vladimir Putin before the start of personal negotiations in the Ukraine war.

Biden had described the Russian President as a “butcher”, among other things.

These words would limit the chance of "normalizing the dialogue that is so badly needed now".

First report:

Moscow/Kiev - Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a new round of negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

They will meet on Monday (March 28th, 2022) for talks in Turkey.

"During today's video conference talks, it was decided to hold the next round in person in Turkey from March 28 to 30," Ukrainian negotiator David Arachamia said on Sunday (March 27, 2022) on the online network Facebook.

The negotiators of Ukraine and Russia had already met in Turkey on March 10 for negotiations in the Ukraine war.

At the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan* they met in Antalya.

At the time, however, the parties in Turkey could not agree on a ceasefire.

The fighting for Ukrainian cities like Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv had only continued with even greater severity.

Ukraine war: Next negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will take place again in Turkey

As early as Friday (March 25, 2022), Vladimir Medinsky, chief negotiator for Russian President Vladimir Putin, declared that the negotiations were not making any progress on the central issues.

“The positions agree on secondary points.

But we are not making any progress on the main political issues, ”said Medinski, according to Russian news agencies.

According to the dpa news agency, Moscow continues to insist on the neutrality, demilitarization and "denazification" of Ukraine.

The Kremlin is also demanding recognition of the sovereignty of Russian-occupied Crimea and recognition of the independence of the two pro-Russian "republics" in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk.

In Luhansk, the separatist leadership had announced a referendum to decide whether the breakaway areas should be annexed to Russia.

Ukraine conflict: Ukraine complains that negotiations with Russia are "very difficult"

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also described the negotiations with Russia in the Ukraine war as "very difficult".

The government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj demands a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine and refuses to give up the areas in the east of the country.

According to Kuleba, the most important thing is "first and foremost a ceasefire, security guarantees and the territorial integrity of Ukraine".

In the past, Zelenskyy had repeatedly called for personal negotiations with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war.

Putin has so far consistently remained silent about his willingness to hold such a meeting*.

As a mediator in the Ukraine war, Erdogan senses his chance*: The role could secure power for the Turkish president.

(dil/dpa)