Donald Trump (L) and Vladimir Putin de Russia come to attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the presidential palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.
Yuri Kadobnov | AFP | Getty images
The hopes that Ukraine and the leaders of Russia meet for the peace conversations in Turkey on Thursday vanished when the leader of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, and his counterpart from the White House, Donald Trump, chose to jump the trip.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zenskyy, had been pressed from Trump to participate in Conversations in Istanbul, but had said that he would only do it if the Russian president was present.
Russian President Putin had pointed out last Sunday that he was willing to celebrate “direct negotiations” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskky “without previous conditions” in Istanbul this week.
However, the Russian leader had not confirmed if he would attend the conversations in person, and Putin’s name was remarkably absent when the Kremlin confirmed the delegation that he would send to Istanbul on Wednesday night.
The Kremlin had been shy about whether the Russian president won the conversations, with Putin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, avoided the reports of the reporters on the subject. When asked Wednesday if Putin would travel to Türkiye, the spokesman replied that the president had “work meetings.”
Peskov was emphatic on Thursday, however, giving a straight “no” when asked if Putin would be attending the conversations.
The Russian delegation is led by Presidential Assistant Vladimir Medinsky and includes Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Galuzin and the Minister of Defense Alexander MIF, as well as the senior military official Igor Kostyukov. Despite the absence of Putin, the Kremlin said the president had held a night meeting with several senior Russian officials to discuss the conversations.
After the announcement of the Kremlin, a senior White House official told NBC News that EE senior envoys. Uu. Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would travel to Istanbul to speak.
Zenskyy of Ukraine had expressed skepticism about the conversations this week, commenting on Wednesday that he was still “waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide who passes the Ukraine shoulder unit, the signals of the signals.” “” Social Network Platform.
Responding to the slight diplomat when he arrived in Ankara on Thursday, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zenskyy said that the delegation of minor officials that Russia had sent to Turkey showed that Moscown was not not to speak.
“The level of the Russian delegation is not known for me, but from what we see, it does not seem a serious level. We will consider our actions and what will be our next steps after the conversation with President Erdogan,” he said.
“We must understand the level of the Russian delegation and what mandate they have, if they are equally able to make a decision on their own, because we all know who makes real decisions in Russia,” he added.
Zenskyy said the Ukrainian delegation to Türkiye included its Minister of Foreign Affairs and Military Intelligence and presidential officials.
kyiv had been pressed to participate in discussions after Trump on Sunday said Ukraine should accept to meet Russia “immediately.”
“At least they can determine that it is possible or not an agreement,” Trump wrote on his real social media platform.
“If not, European leaders and the United States will know where everything is located, and can overcome accordingly!” Trump said he was “beginning to doubt that Ukraine will arrive in Putin” before exclaiming: “
