Russia-Ukraine negotiating teams meet in Turkey, under the auspices of Erdogan

The Russian government announced on Tuesday that will “drasically reduce” its military operations against the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, and the city of Chernigov after verifying that the talks he had this Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul (Turkey) have been “constructive”.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin explained that the decision “increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for new negotiations with the ultimate aim of signing an agreement” with the Ukrainian authorities.

For example, he explained that the decision is also due to the fact that “the negotiations on the preparations for an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, as well as the delivery of security guarantees to Ukraine, are progressing in practice”.

“We assume that the main decisions will be made in Kiev and that the conditions for more formal work will be created,” Fomin emphasized, as reported by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Minutes earlier, the head of the Russian delegation at the Istanbul negotiations, Vladimir Medinsky, explained that the Russian delegation had been given “a clearly articulated position to reach an agreement” from its Ukrainian counterparts.

“We have received proposals from Ukraine for consideration. It is a clearly formulated position,” he explained, stressing that “these proposals will be considered in the near future and presented to the President (Vladimir Putin).” “We will give an answer”has been taken care of.

Ukraine asks for security guarantees to waive its entry into NATO

Ukraine’s negotiating delegation has proposed to renounce its membership in NATO and any other military alliance in exchange for written receipt security guarantees from ten countriesas announced David Arahamiyathe head of the Ukrainian group.

“We want a functioning international mechanism, similar to NATO’s Article 5,” Arahamiya said. “We would like the guarantor countries to be those of the United Nations Security Council (UK, China, Russia, US and France), like Turkey, Germany, Canada, Poland and Israel“, has explained.

Kiev could demand consultations within three days in the event of an attack or aggression against Ukraine and, if the issue is not resolved through diplomatic channels, be entitled to military assistance, including the declaration of a no-fly zone.

If these guarantees are given, “Ukraine will agree to be neutral, have no nuclear weapons, nor allow foreign military bases on its territory,” added another member of the Ukrainian delegation. Oleksander Chalyy

On the other hand, the negotiator Mikhailo Podolyak pointed out that this agreement would not cover “territories temporarily occupied by Russia”referring to the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed to Russia in 2014.

The status of these areas will have to be negotiated with Russia over the course of a year term of 15 years In any case, “the proposal does not provide for Ukraine to be allowed to use force to liberate these areas,” he stressed.

On the other hand, Chalyi stressed that the agreement will in no case exclude Ukraine from joining the European Union If there is a final agreement, its contents will have to be approved in a referendum once all Russian troops have left the territory.

Negotiators deny poisoning

At the beginning of the meeting, the President of Turkey said, Recep Tayyip Erdoganaddressed the delegations and, as he said, a step towards a ceasefire would pave the way for a face-to-face meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyrespectively.

Images broadcast by the Turkish media show that, among others, those present Roman Abramovichalthough he has not sat at the main table, he has sat next to Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalinwho would have helped coordinate the meetings.

Abramovich’s appearance in Istanbul suggests he may still be involved in mediation efforts, after sources cited by media outlets such as Guardian or The Wall Street Journal indicated that both he and one of the members of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, Rustem Umerovhave had “Symptoms of Possible Poisoning” in the last weeks.

For his part, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dimitro Kulebaon Tuesday recommended that members of the delegation “do not eat or drink anything” and that they “preferably not touch any surface”, according to British television channel Sky News.

However, Umerov himself confirmed via a Facebook post that he is “fine”. “This is my response to the yellow press. Do not trust unverified information. There is also a” information warfare underway,” he warned Monday.

The Turkish city of Antalya hosted the first and so far only face-to-face meeting between Russia’s and Ukraine’s foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Dimitro Kuleba on March 10, respectively. Belarus has been the scene of several meetings between the negotiating delegations.