International
Russians and Ukrainians open peace negotiations three years later but do not stop the war
Russia and Ukraine reopened peace negotiations in Istanbul today, stagnant since the first year of the war (2022), and, although they did not stop the fighting, they agreed to study the plans of both sides for a future ceasefire.
“The direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side, organized on the initiative of the Russian president, have just been concluded. In general, we are satisfied with the results and we are willing to continue contacts,” said Vladimir Medinski, Russian chief negotiator, in an appearance before the press.
The talks, chaired by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, and which seemed to obviate the most controversial political aspects, lasted for an hour and fifty minutes at the Dolmabahce Palace.
“Today has been an important day for world peace,” Fidan wrote on the X network.
In addition, Moscow and Kiev left the door open to a summit between the presidents of both countries, the Russian Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, after the former refused to travel to Istanbul.
According to the Turkish network NTV, both delegations will leave the city in the next few hours.
Ukraine, both its president and its negotiators, had repeated ad nauseam in recent days that its main objective was to achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities, for at least 30 days.
There was no agreement – Russia demands guarantees of monitoring and that the enemy will not rearm -, although Moscow opted for a formulation that does not force it for the moment to stop its offensive in the Donbass.
“We have agreed that each party will present its vision of a possible ceasefire and describe it in detail. Once that vision is presented, we consider it convenient – we have also agreed – to continue our negotiations,” said Medinski, who also participated in the March-April 2022 meeting.
In this regard, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Rustem Umérov, commented: “All the (possible) modalities have been discussed. Now our colleagues exchange documents.”
What does this mean? Apparently, Russia wants to buy time. But the patience of the European Union (EU) has a limit and Brussels could apply at any time the 17 package of sanctions approved this week against the Russian banking and energy system.
In fact, at the end of the negotiations, Zelenski and the leaders of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland spoke by phone from Tirana with US President Donald Trump.
“Our position: if the Russians reject a total and unconditional ceasefire and put an end to the massacre, there must be forceful sanctions. The pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war,” Zelenski wrote on his social networks.
In the same vein, French President Emmanuel Macron considered it “unacceptable that, for the second time, President Putin does not respond to the demands made by the Americans and supported by Ukraine and Europe.”
In addition to the verbal commitment to hold a second round of negotiations, the only concrete agreement reached today is the exchange of a thousand prisoners on each side.
In a clear measure to increase confidence between both sides, Moscow and Kiev announced that they will carry it out “in the coming days”.
This is the largest exchange of prisoners of war – Zelenski had proposed an exchange of all for all – since the beginning of the contest on February 24, 2022.
In turn, Medinski revealed that Kiev had proposed to Moscow a future summit between Putin and Zelenski, who have not been seen since December 2019 in Paris, a few months after the Ukrainian leader came to power.
“The Ukrainian side requested direct negotiations between the heads of state. We have taken note of that proposal,” said the Kremlin advisor.
Then, Umerov confirmed the request after Putin’s refusal to attend the appointment was about to destroy the negotiations.
“We are also preparing a potential meeting between the leaders of both countries,” he said in a brief statement.
Trump, who had shown himself willing to meet with Putin and Zelenski, returned to the United States today after his first foreign tour without fulfilling his wish.
In this regard, he assured on Friday that he is willing to meet with Putin “as soon as we can organize it” and assured that he understands that the Russian president did not go to Istanbul without his presence.
“If I didn’t go, it was guaranteed that Putin wasn’t going to go and he didn’t go. I can understand it, but we’re going to get it,” he said.
The Kremlin today considered this summit “extremely important” to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.
“Those contacts would be extremely important in the context of the Ukrainian arrangement (…) Without a doubt, that meeting is necessary,” said Dmitri Peskov, presidential spokesman, during his daily telephone press conference.
Yesterday was marked by the crossing of insults and reproaches between Moscow and Kiev and by the confirmation that the presidents of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski; Russia, Vladimir Putin; and the United States, Donald Trump; would not participate in the contacts, the first between Ukraine and Russia since April 2022.
Trump said on Friday that he is willing to meet with Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can organize it” and assured that he understands that the Russian president did not go to Istanbul without him being present to advance the peace talks between Kiev and Moscow.
“I would go from here, although I want to see my wonderful grandson,” Trump said at a bilateral event with companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in reference to the fact that his daughter Tiffany has just had a child and wants to return to meet him.
“If I didn’t go, it was guaranteed that Putin wasn’t going to go and he didn’t go. I can understand, but we are going to get it,” said Trump, who from the beginning was in favor of facilitating the meeting between Zelenski and Putin in Istanbul this Friday.
The Kremlin considered today “extremely important” a possible summit between the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the United States, Donald Trump, for the peaceful settlement in Ukraine.
Finally, Putin, who initially proposed the meeting, did not travel to Istanbul to lead his delegation of negotiators, something that Zelenski did, who in the absence of the Russian president continued with an agenda that has now taken him to Albania.
For NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a mistake in sending a delegation in which no member reaches the rank of minister to the negotiations in Istanbul to try to end the war in Ukraine.
Rutte said that he “knows Putin well” from his time as Dutch prime minister and appreciated that the Russian president “knows perfectly well that the ball is in his field, that he has problems and that he has made a mistake by sending a low-level delegation.”
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
International
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Venezuela has announced the closure of its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Venezuelan diplomatic mission provided no explanation for its decision on Monday.
“It is regrettable,” a ministry spokesperson said. “Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue with Venezuela open and will continue to work in that direction.” The ministry also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates entirely independently from the Norwegian government.
In its announcement, the Nobel Committee stated that Machado met the criteria established by Alfred Nobel, “embodying the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of Venezuelans are heard.”
International
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in Mexico worked tirelessly on Tuesday to clear roads blocked by the torrential rains of recent days, which have left more than 300 communities cut off across central and eastern regions of the country. Authorities also launched mass fumigation efforts in several affected areas to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
The official death toll remains at 64, though dozens of people are still missing. President Claudia Sheinbaumacknowledged that the government does not yet know the full situation in many of the isolated villages, which range in population from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.
“The reopening of roads is one of the greatest urgencies,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s essential to guarantee air bridges, food supplies, clean water, and a proper census of the isolated communities so we can determine the condition of every person living there.”
Private construction companies are also assisting the effort with heavy machinery and technical support to help reopen highways and reconnect rural areas.
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