Negotiation breakthrough?

Kremlin announces "treaty" - Zelenskyj reports "positive" signals

Created: 03/30/2022 04:53

By: Florian Naumann, Linus Prien, Marc Dimitriu, Kai Hartwig

Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul - apparently there was significant progress.

The news ticker for the negotiations.

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

• Ukraine is demanding security guarantees in the form of an “international agreement”

  (see update from March 29, 3:09 p.m.).

  Russia allegedly wants to reduce the attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev

  (see update from March 29, 4:34 p.m.).

• Ukraine's President Zelenskyj sees "positive" signals

  (see update from March 29, 10:32 p.m.).

  US President Biden wants to see action from Russia

  (see update from March 29, 8:36 p.m.).

• 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, 10:32 p.m .:

From the point of view of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, there were “positive” signals in the most recent round of negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul.

However, the shelling by the Russian attackers did not stop, said Zelenskyj in a video message published on Tuesday evening.

"The Russian army still has great potential to continue attacks on our state," the president said.

Therefore, Ukraine will not reduce its defense efforts.

The sanctions against Russia should also remain in place in full, Zelenskyy reiterated.

An annulment “cannot be considered until the war is over and we get back what is ours”.

Ukraine negotiations: US President Biden reacts cautiously - and wants to see action

Update from March 29, 8:36 p.m .:

US President Joe Biden reacted cautiously to Russia’s announcement that combat operations in northern Ukraine would be significantly reduced.

He did not want to evaluate the statements until he saw "the actions" of the Russian armed forces.

"We'll see if they do what they're proposing," Biden said.

With a view to the telephone exchange with his counterparts from Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, he added: "We will continue to monitor closely what is happening." Until there is an actual change, the pressure on Moscow with "tough sanctions" will be maintained and that Ukrainian military supported, Biden said.

Ukraine negotiations: Chancellor Scholz and colleagues call for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution

Update from March 29, 8:11 p.m .:

After a joint phone call with Ukraine, the heads of state and government of the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy have promised the country further active support.

They strongly condemned Russia's attack.

"They again urged Russian President Putin to agree to a ceasefire, to cease all hostilities, to withdraw Russian soldiers from Ukraine and to enable a diplomatic solution to the crisis," said Steffen Hebestreit, spokesman for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Berlin on Tuesday.

The quintet also urged Putin to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and set up humanitarian corridors, according to the Scholz spokesman.

This would allow the residents to leave contested areas or be supplied there - especially in Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks.

Ukraine negotiations: Macron calls Putin - who demands capitulation in Mariupol

Update from March 29, 8:01 p.m .:

In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, France’s head of state Emmanuel Macron tried to initiate an evacuation campaign from the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which had been heavily contested for weeks.

But Macron's efforts apparently failed.

The conditions for bringing thousands of civilians stuck in the city to safety "are not in place at this stage," said a statement by the presidential office in Paris on Tuesday.

Putin only promised to "think about it" with regard to an evacuation operation from Mariupol.  

Update from March 29, 7:33 p.m .:

Moscow commented on the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

According to a statement by the Kremlin, the difficult humanitarian situation in the embattled Ukrainian port of Mariupol was exchanged.

According to the Kremlin, Putin is said to have informed the French head of state that the Russian army was delivering humanitarian aid and bringing civilians to safety.

Ukrainian authorities had presented the situation in Mariupol completely differently.

They accuse the Russian troops of kidnapping and killing citizens of Mariupol.

Russia rejects this.

The Kremlin statement also read that Putin had demanded from Macron that "the Ukrainian nationalist fighters in Mariupol should give up their resistance and lay down their arms."

Russia's head of state also informed his French interlocutor about the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war, in which further steps were agreed in Istanbul.

According to the Kremlin, Putin also discussed the issue of natural gas supplies to Europe with Macron.

Allegedly, Russia will now have these paid for in its currency, rubles, it said.

However, this seems more than questionable, since the group of the seven leading industrial nations (G7), which includes France and Germany, unanimously rejected a currency conversion from the dollar and euro to the ruble.

Ukraine negotiations: USA and Great Britain react cautiously

Update from March 29, 6:02 p.m.:

The supposed progress in the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul has been received with caution in the USA and Great Britain.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned Russia's negotiating efforts in the Ukraine war.

"I haven't seen anything that suggests this is moving forward in an effective way, because we haven't seen any signs of real seriousness," Blinken said Tuesday during a visit to Morocco. "There's what Russia says and there's what Russia does.

We're concentrating on the latter."

Blinken added that Russia's violence against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people continues.

Similar tones were heard from Great Britain.

"We will judge Putin and his regime by his actions, not his words," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in London on Tuesday.

A complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory is necessary, it said.

Ukraine negotiations: Russian negotiator Medinski sees progress, but no ceasefire

Update from March 29, 5:31 p.m .:

Russia’s negotiator Vladimir Medinski has classified the announced military de-escalation around Kiev and Chernihiv in more detail.

"This is not a ceasefire, but our efforts to gradually de-escalate the conflict, at least in these directions," Medinski told the Russian state

after talks with representatives of Ukraine in Istanbul .

The Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin had previously promised that his country's troops would significantly reduce their combat operations on the northern front near Kyiv and Chernihiv.

"Russia has taken two big steps towards peace," added Medinsky.

He said that Ukraine had also taken a step forward with written proposals.

However, Moscow expects further concessions from the Ukrainian side.

Update from March 29, 4:34 p.m

.: After today’s peace negotiations, the Russian side announced that it would reduce the attacks on Kiev and Chernihiv.

Despite this, Russia wants to continue its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

"It is going strictly according to plan," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.

The tasks and goals would continue to be met.

It is still about the "demilitarization of Ukraine, denazification," said Zakharova.

Ukraine negotiations: positive signals from Russia - open to Ukraine's EU membership?

Update from March 29, 4:17 p.m

.: Russia is apparently actually open to Ukraine joining the EU.

Following the peace talks in Istanbul, Kremlin chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said: "Russia does not oppose Ukraine's attempts to join the EU," the

reported via Twitter.

Update from March 29, 3:53 p.m

.: After the unexpected progress in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations (

), further positive signals are coming from Moscow: the Kremlin wants to remain in dialogue with the USA – despite the recent discord over statements by US President Joe Biden.

Biden's "personal insults" to Russian President Vladimir Putin would have a "negative impact" on relations between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.

"Nevertheless, dialogue between Russia and the United States is necessary in any case," emphasized Peskov.

"It's not only in the interests of both countries, but in the interests of the whole world." Sooner or later, Russia and the United States will have to talk about issues of strategic stability and security.

Ukraine negotiations: First results of the peace negotiations

Update from March 29, 3:09 p.m

.: According to the Ukrainian chief negotiator David Arachamia, the results from Istanbul are “sufficient” for a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin chief Putin.

The Ukrainian side also called for an "international agreement" in Istanbul to guarantee Ukraine's security.

Several countries should be the guarantors as signatory states, explained Arachamia after the talks in Istanbul, which lasted several hours.

"We want an international mechanism for security guarantees, in which the guarantor states would behave in accordance with Article 5 of NATO and in an even stricter form."

Breakthrough in Ukraine talks?

Kremlin announces "treaty" - first effects visible

Negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul © IMAGO/Sergei Karpukhin

Update from March 29, 2:55 p.m

.: Russia wants to significantly reduce its “military activities” in Ukraine near Kiev and Chernihiv.

This was decided in view of the course of the negotiations with Ukraine, said Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin on Tuesday after the talks in Istanbul.

The move should serve to build mutual trust and create the conditions for further negotiations, Fomin said.

Ukraine is in the process of preparing a treaty on the country's neutral status without nuclear weapons.

Russia assumes that Ukraine will make appropriate decisions on this.

There should be detailed information about the Istanbul agreements after the delegation's return to Moscow.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian general staff announced that the withdrawal of individual units of the Russian armed forces was being observed in the area around the capital Kyiv and the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

Update from March 29, 2:28 p.m

.: There are apparently already the first results of the negotiations: the Russian military wants to massively reduce its attacks around the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the city of Chernihiv.

The Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the intention was to de-escalate the conflict.

Ukraine-Russia negotiations ended: Kuleba gave meaningful warning to delegation

Update from March 29, 1:58 p.m

.: The delegations from Ukraine and Russia have ended their round of negotiations in Istanbul.

This was reported by the Turkish state

about four hours after the start of the peace talks.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had previously called on the members of his own delegation to be cautious at the peace negotiations.

Ukrainian media quoted Kuleba as advising: "Don't drink, eat or touch any surfaces."

Ukraine negotiations: Russia denies poisoning allegations again

Update from March 29, 1:32 p.m

.: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed the presence of oligarch Roman Abramovich in the new round of Russian-Ukrainian peace negotiations in Istanbul.

However, Abramovich was not an official member of the Russian delegation, but should ensure "certain contacts" between the two sides.

The Kremlin has described reports of the alleged poisoning of Abramovich as part of an "information war".

"This is part of an information campaign, part of information sabotage, this is part of an information war," Peskov said on Tuesday, according to the

.

"These reports are definitely not true."

Update from March 29, 1:13 p.m

.: According to the

media platform , Russia has expelled a total of ten diplomats from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Russian diplomats had previously been expelled from the Baltic states.

Ukraine negotiations: France demands end of the siege of Mariupol

Update from March 29, 12:45 p.m

.: French President Emmanuel Macron and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin* want to discuss ways out of the Ukraine war again on Tuesday afternoon.

A phone call between the two presidents is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., it said from the Élysée Palace in Paris.

The Kremlin confirmed the planned call.

Macron had announced in advance that he was going to coordinate with Russia on an evacuation mission for the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

France is striving for the relief operation together with Turkey and Greece.

As a condition, France called for Russia to lift the siege of the city.

Ukraine negotiations in Turkey: Russia apparently waived "denazification" demand

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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