Negotiations in Istanbul: Russia wants to reduce military activity

A neutral status remains conceivable for Ukraine – but only under certain conditions, as the country emphasized again during negotiations in Istanbul. Russia promised less military activity around Kyiv.

After the first direct talks with Russian representatives, Ukraine remains willing to agree to a neutral status. However, such a step is subject to conditions.

After the end of the negotiations in Istanbul, the Ukrainian negotiators again demanded an end to hostilities in their country, a complete withdrawal of Russian troops and the possibility for the population who had fled abroad to be able to return to their homeland. In addition, Ukraine wants to obtain security guarantees from other countries. The country’s representatives see Turkey, Canada, Poland and Israel as possible states that could provide security guarantees for Ukraine. In such a case, the Ukrainian government is ready to agree to its own neutrality.

Ukrainian law should apply in Crimea

The status of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 and that of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk apparently remain a point of contention. With regard to Crimea, the Ukrainian negotiators stressed that their country would recognize the borders there from 1991 – that is, from the year in which a majority of the population voted in a referendum for Ukraine’s independence. The Ukrainian representatives emphasized that in future Ukrainian law must continue to apply on the peninsula – even if Russia sees it differently. It was proposed to the Russian side to fix the status of Crimea for a period of 15 years.

The negotiations should now be continued – the Ukrainian side gave a time frame of two weeks. At the same time, however, talks were already being held with possible guarantor states in order to finally bring the negotiations to a conclusion at multilateral level. From Ukraine’s point of view, a direct meeting between its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin should take place much sooner, so that agreements can be reached “at the highest level”.

Russia: Military will reduce activity around Kyiv

The Russian negotiators also promised such a meeting. Before that, however, a treaty between Russia and Ukraine must be in place, which must then be confirmed by the negotiators on both sides and then signed by the foreign ministers of both countries. Only then can there be a meeting between the presidents.

However, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Formin promised that the Russian military would “radically” reduce its activities in the Kyiv region. The same applies to the region around the city of Chernihiv. The Russian side only wanted to comment on the course of the negotiations and possible progress after their return to Moscow. The negotiators only emphasized that a possible treaty between the two states could be signed quickly as soon as a reasonable compromise had been found.

In their statement to journalists, the Russian negotiators only explicitly called on Ukraine to comply with the Geneva Conventions and referred to the treatment of Russian prisoners of war. Torture must be ruled out in any case.

First talks for almost three weeks

These were the first direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials since March 10. However, during these talks, which took place in Antalya, Turkey, no concrete progress was made towards a ceasefire in Ukraine. Since then, talks have continued via video conference. Both parties to the conflict recently described it as “difficult”.

Kuleba skeptical

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that the minimum goal for the negotiations in Istanbul was to improve the humanitarian situation in cities besieged by Russian troops, such as the badly damaged Mariupol. The desired goal is a stable ceasefire.

However, before the talks began, he expressed skepticism about their chances of success. “If we see that 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.”