At the talks in Istanbul, which were supposed to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to attend in person.
Instead, he sent his own delegation, led by a man with negligible influence over Russian politics. Not only did Putin refuse to fly to the Turkish city, but so did Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Instead, the delegation was led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky - the former culture minister is considered a politician with no real weight or influence.
This offended Zelensky, who called the Russian delegation "a sham", and the Ukrainian leader refused to negotiate with it. US President Donald Trump also refused to fly to Turkey - although he had previously expressed a similar readiness, “if necessary“.
After the failed talks between the presidents, Trump said he would return to Washington. However, an interesting sentence followed. Trump said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “as soon as it becomes possible to organize such a meeting“.
According to Sky News, this is exactly what Putin wanted by refusing to go to Turkey. By not showing up for these talks, Putin seems to have secured himself future negotiations that explicitly exclude Zelensky but include the American president, who seems happy to hand over Ukrainian territory to Moscow to end a war being fought thousands of kilometers from his own country.
This is the era of Trump. And Putin not only realizes this fact, but seems to know how to use it to his advantage.
Putin mocked Zelensky, sending his subordinates without authority to make any decisions without the Kremlin's approval. In this way, Putin has repeatedly made the Americans state that a summit between Trump and Putin is the only way forward in finding a solution to the war.
And Ukraine has repeatedly stated that without it at the table, it is impossible to negotiate its future. Because without a Ukrainian representative, Ukrainian land will be plundered. With Trump's permission.