Vladimir Putin has stood up the world as hopes fade for peace in Ukraine. After indicating he might attend a summit with his rival Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey today the Russian president has instead has dispatched a four-strong delegation. Experts say he has hoodwinked global leaders because war is the only way to retain his 25-year vice-like grip on power.
The snub - along with US president Donald Trump's no-show in Istanbul - has burst the bubble on the prospect of peace in the bitter neighbours’ three-year conflict that has left 250,000 dead and proves he is "clinging to the war". Putin and Zelensky have not met face-to-face since December 2019. Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
The Russian delegation sent for talks includes Putin aide Vladimir Medinskiy, deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, head of Russian armed forces Igor Kostyukov, and defence minister Aleksandr Fomin.
Medinskiy represented Russia during the 2022 Istanbul negotiations when it demanded Ukrainian capitulation, the drastic reduction of Ukrainian Armed Forces and other conditions that were “unacceptable to Ukraine”.
Zelensky had previously said he would be “waiting for Putin” and said he would do everything he could to ensure a face-to-face meeting took place.
Mr Trump will now not attend, having previously hinted he would if Putin was there.
He said he was optimistic about the prospect of talks, saying there is “the potential for a good meeting”. Instead, he has sent America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio to the country to meet Nato foreign ministers alongside senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.
Mr Zelensky will be in the Turkish capital Ankara to meet President Recep Erdogan, but the prospect of any breakthrough looks bleak after he said: “So far, the signals from [Russia] are unconvincing.”
The blow comes after Putin called for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine "without pre-conditions". Mr Zelensky said he would go in person and expected the Russian president to do the same.
Ukraine and a European “Coalition of the Willing” demanded a 30-day ceasefire before talks started.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also called for “an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine” adding: “The UN is ready to provide whatever support if the parties agree.”
Putin took charge of Russia when former President Boris Yeltsin stepped down on New Year's Eve in 1999 with his parting instruction to his successor, then Prime Minister, being: "Take care of Russia!"
Anton Gerashchenko, former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and a trusted lieutenant of Zelensky, said: “Why is Putin stalling for time, lying, and clinging to the war?
“The ceasefire will not play to the advantage of the Kremlin elites and Putin himself. Putin's power relies on war.
“The end [of the war in Ukraine] means the emergence of opposition (and possibly an armed one), huge economic problems that cannot be blamed on the war, and redistribution of assets and property.
“Putin's power model cannot exist outside of war because, with peace, he loses control over the country.
“A part of Russian society, fuelled by propaganda, interprets peace talks as betrayal, and the end of the war will naturally lead to the emergence of an armed and ideologically-motivated opposition inside the country.
“Putin is very much afraid of his own army. Keeping it in line is only possible at the front in an infinitely protracted war, so we see the Kremlin delaying a real peaceful solution to the war by any means necessary.”
