- 5/15/2025
Delays hit the Istanbul 2.0 peace talks as Zelensky travels to Ankara for a high-stakes meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is also in Turkey, raising eyebrows. And tensions escalate as Ukraine provokes Hungary, straining EU unity. Get the full breakdown with insight from Alex Christoforou. 🎙️🌍
#IstanbulTalks #Zelensky #Erdogan #UkraineCrisis #HungaryUkraine #AlexChristoforou #Geopolitics #TurkeyDiplomacy #UkraineWar #PeaceTalks #RussiaUkraine #EUPolitics #LindseyGraham #AnkaraMeetings #EasternEurope #NATO #HungaryNews #UkraineNews #GlobalAffairs #DiplomaticCrisis
#IstanbulTalks #Zelensky #Erdogan #UkraineCrisis #HungaryUkraine #AlexChristoforou #Geopolitics #TurkeyDiplomacy #UkraineWar #PeaceTalks #RussiaUkraine #EUPolitics #LindseyGraham #AnkaraMeetings #EasternEurope #NATO #HungaryNews #UkraineNews #GlobalAffairs #DiplomaticCrisis
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NewsTranscript
00:00President Zelensky, do you have a message for Vladimir Putin?
00:05I'm here. I think this is very clear.
00:10Thank you all the best. Thank you very much.
00:15This is my video update on this Thursday afternoon, May the 15th, coming to you from Limassol, Cyprus.
00:43Let's talk about some news.
00:49Let's start things off with an Iran deal, which is in the works.
00:57We are very close to an Iran deal.
01:00Actually, if Trump makes the right decision, then this deal should be wrapped up.
01:09This is the offer from Iran, according to NBC News.
01:16This is coming from a top government official, an advisor actually, to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
01:32This is what he said. One second. Let me pull it up.
01:39Just in, Iran ready for nuclear deal with President Trump if sanctions are lifted, top advisor to Supreme Leader says.
01:50Quote, Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium,
01:59which can be weaponized, agreed to only enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for civilian use
02:09and allow international inspectors to supervise the process in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.
02:19It's a slam dunk, man. Take the deal. Take the deal, United States, US President Trump.
02:29Is it that much different than the JCPOA?
02:33From what I understand, not really, except that the JCPOA was capped at 10 years and this one seems to be forever,
02:43which is exactly what Trump was asking for.
02:47And in exchange, sanctions are lifted on Iran.
02:51Win-win. Take the deal. Will Trump take the deal? I don't know. I don't know.
03:02I'm thinking probably not, but I'm hoping yes.
03:07According to CNN, when Trump was in Saudi Arabia, he decided not to name the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf
03:19after Iran threatened to withdraw from negotiations.
03:23So a signal from Trump that he doesn't want to negotiate with Iran.
03:28He dropped the whole ridiculous idea of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Gulf and all of that stuff.
03:36But anyway, that is the news, according to an advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran speaking to NBC News.
03:46It seems like a very straightforward win-win type of deal that Trump and the United States should take.
03:57So let's now move on to the deal that is trying to be worked out with Project Ukraine.
04:06We have the Istanbul talks, which are taking place today.
04:13They should have started at 10 o'clock in the morning.
04:17But the Ukraine delegation said that they're not going to be ready at 10 o'clock in the morning.
04:29Reason being that Elensky was flying into Ankara.
04:34I believe he arrived in Ankara at 11 in the morning.
04:40He's going to be meeting with Erdogan.
04:43The latest report said that the meeting with Erdogan was going to take place at 2 o'clock.
04:48I've read recent reports which now claim that Erdogan will be ready to meet with Elensky at 6 o'clock.
04:57Keep in mind, the Russian delegation has been in Istanbul.
05:04They're prepared. They're ready to go.
05:08They were ready to go at 10 o'clock, but 6 o'clock now is the new time.
05:15At least those are coming from recent reports that came out.
05:21But Elensky said that he will not give the names of his negotiating team
05:31and he will not sanction them to go and negotiate until he is done with his meeting with Erdogan.
05:42That is why we have this delay.
05:46They will not get the approval from Elensky.
05:49He doesn't even know who he's going to name in his team,
05:52but they will not be going to negotiate with the Russians in Istanbul until he is done meeting with Erdogan,
06:00which is either set at 2 o'clock or at 6 o'clock this evening.
06:08So the Russian team, I guess, is just hanging out in Istanbul,
06:14waiting on the Ukrainian delegation, waiting on Elensky to wrap up his meeting with Erdogan.
06:22Why is Elensky in Ankara? I thought he was going to Istanbul to meet with Putin.
06:29That was what Elensky was saying, wasn't it?
06:32I'm going to Istanbul and I'm going to meet with Putin and only Putin.
06:36Well, he turns up in Ankara to meet with Erdogan.
06:44What is he doing in Ankara? What does he have to talk to Erdogan about?
06:49Why is it so important for Elensky to have a meeting with Erdogan,
06:54to conclude the meeting with Erdogan and then name his negotiating team
07:01and then green light his negotiating team to meet with the Russians in Istanbul?
07:06What is going on here?
07:08Delay tactics, trying to piss the Russians off, trying to sabotage the negotiations.
07:16Maybe the Collective West, Elensky, some other Collective West officials might be in Ankara as well.
07:30And perhaps they're trying to pressure Erdogan to open up the access to the Black Sea, perhaps.
07:41To pressure Erdogan to get on board with sanctions against Russia.
07:50All these things could be at play. It's very suspicious that Elensky is in Ankara
07:56and it's very suspicious that they're waiting for a meeting with Erdogan
08:02before they go to the meeting in Istanbul with Russia.
08:07If they go to the meeting to Istanbul and talk to the Russians,
08:13because you're also getting reports which claim that Elensky may call the whole thing off.
08:19That's also very possible.
08:24Well, the Russians are there, the Russians are taking this seriously.
08:28Putin put together his negotiating team and it will not be Lavrov, it will not be Ushakov.
08:37Those reports were actually started by the Washington Post.
08:41They're the ones that first said that it would be Lavrov that would be leading the negotiations.
08:46I talked about this two days ago and all of the media picked up on this
08:51and they were reporting that it was going to be Lavrov as the lead negotiator.
08:59Turns out that's not the case. I talked about this in my video update yesterday.
09:03Peskov came out with a statement yesterday and said that the team has still not been decided by the Russian president.
09:12And the report of Lavrov originated with the Washington Post.
09:20But it has been announced the team for Russia and leading the team will be the presidential aide Medensky.
09:34He was actually the person that led the negotiating team in 2022.
09:43So continuity, you can see how important continuity is for Putin.
09:49Actually the negotiations are set to take place, the Istanbul talks,
09:55are going to take place at the same exact location that they took place in 2022 as well.
10:04Same place, same Russian chief negotiator and Putin in June of 2024, what did he say?
10:13When he was talking about Istanbul plus June 2024 speech about root causes and Russia's terms,
10:24Putin said that the terms were a continuation of the talks that were broken off by the Ukraine side,
10:36thank you Boris Johnson, in March of 2022.
10:41So when Putin says that Istanbul plus is going to be a continuation of Istanbul 1.0, he means it.
10:51He absolutely means that there's going to be a lot of military and intel officials as well in Istanbul.
11:00There are a lot of military and intel officials on the Russian team and this is important.
11:07This is important because you know those military and intel officials are going to be talking about facts on the ground.
11:16Facts on the ground, the situation in the conflict in Ukraine and of course the four oblasts in their entirety.
11:27So Russia actually has put together a very powerful and formidable team to negotiate in Istanbul
11:37and Zelensky is going to sit with Erdogan in Ankara.
11:43That's the situation as of the moment of this recording.
11:51Actually when Zelensky arrived in Ankara at 11am, he actually said that the appointment of Medensky, he said it's a sham.
12:04That is what he said. It lacks seriousness and authenticity.
12:12As if Putin was going to show up to meet with the Green Goblin. Come on man.
12:18Did Putin ever say anywhere in his speech that he was going to be leading the negotiation team in Istanbul?
12:28No, he never once said that.
12:30Actually, and I said this in a video 2-3 days ago, right after Putin's speech on Saturday night at 2.30 in the morning,
12:42Saturday night, Sunday morning, however you want to look at it, directly after that speech,
12:48Ushakov spoke to Russian media. He didn't wait till the next day.
12:52He didn't wait till the morning or anything like that.
12:56He spoke immediately to Russian media and he was very clear.
13:00Russia is going to be putting together a negotiating team much like in Istanbul in 2022 for talks with Ukraine.
13:11Never, never at any time during Putin's speech or Ushakov's statement to the media,
13:18did the Russians say that Putin is going to be leading this delegation.
13:23But the Collective West and Alensky and the script writers, they twisted and turned it around
13:28to become this showdown between Churchill number two and the Putin.
13:35So Alensky is calling this a sham.
13:39The Sun, the Sun came out with a title.
13:43Don in the wings.
13:45Trump says he could jet in to Ukraine.
13:48Peace talks as they begin today after coward Putin sends Novichok poison spy boss.
13:54Ah, the Sun, the Sun with their creative titles.
14:03So Trump said he's not going to go to the Istanbul talks.
14:07He's not going to be in Istanbul today.
14:10But as he was speaking to the media, Trump said that if things go well,
14:15he might get on a plane and attend the talks.
14:20As Trump was speaking to the media, he made it out as if Putin decided to cancel his trip to Istanbul
14:30because Trump said that he wasn't going to Istanbul.
14:35Can we see how everyone is spitting this in the Collective West?
14:40No, I didn't anticipate.
14:42I actually said, why would he go if I'm not going?
14:44Because I wasn't going to go.
14:46I wasn't planning to.
14:47I would go, but I wasn't planning to go.
14:50And I said, I don't think he's going to go if I don't go.
14:52And that turned out to be right.
14:54But we have people there.
14:56Marco, as you know, if something happened, I'd go on Friday if it was appropriate.
15:01Putin was waiting for Trump to go to Istanbul.
15:03And the minute that Trump said he wasn't sure he was going to go to Istanbul, Putin decided to cancel the trip to Istanbul.
15:09That's exactly how it went down.
15:11Yeah, right.
15:12That's exactly how it went down.
15:18The Turkish proverb, I have it bookmarked here.
15:22When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king.
15:25The palace becomes a circus.
15:27The minute that Alenski said that he's going to be going to Istanbul,
15:32the minute Alenski said, I'm going to go to Istanbul, I want to meet Putin,
15:37the whole thing became a circus.
15:40It is now a complete circus, these talks.
15:44If we even get these talks in Istanbul, by the time this video goes up,
15:49maybe, maybe the talks will have begun.
15:53Maybe not.
15:55Who knows?
15:56Who knows what is going to happen today?
16:00Alenski in Ankara.
16:04Whitkoff, Rubio, and I believe Kellogg are in Istanbul.
16:11They were in Antalya because there was a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
16:16And at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, they met with the foreign minister of Ukraine.
16:21And you know who else was at that foreign ministers meeting?
16:25Rubio, the foreign minister of Ukraine.
16:31And guess who else was there?
16:33Just take a wild guess.
16:34Take a wild, wild guess.
16:36Take a walk on the wild side.
16:38Lindsey, Lindsey Bonecrusher Graham.
16:42So while all of this is playing out in Istanbul, the circus is unfolding in Istanbul,
16:48courtesy of Churchill No. 2.
16:51We have a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Antalya, Turkey.
16:58Not a NATO senators meeting, right?
17:02Not a NATO senators meeting.
17:05No, a foreign ministers meeting in Antalya, Turkey.
17:10And Lindsey Graham just happens to be there.
17:13Hey, Lindsey, what are you doing here?
17:14I'm just hanging out, man.
17:16I'm just hanging out in Antalya.
17:19That's what U.S. senators do.
17:22We travel to Turkey and attend NATO foreign ministers meetings.
17:27Yep.
17:29Actually, the foreign minister of Ukraine, Sibiha, Andrei Sibiha.
17:36That's his name.
17:37Andrei Sibiha.
17:38Not Kuleba.
17:39Not Kalua Kuleba.
17:40It's Andrei Sibiha.
17:43He posted on X, I met with Secretary Rubio and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina,
17:48in Antalya to share President Zelensky's vision of further peace efforts
17:56and coordinate positions during this critical week.
17:59We discussed in detail the logic of further steps and shared our approaches.
18:07Yeah, there's going to be no peace deal.
18:10There's going to be no substantive negotiations taking place.
18:15Nope.
18:16Not going to happen.
18:18The Wall Street Journal put out an article saying,
18:20refusing to meet Zelensky, Putin sends junior team for talks with Ukraine.
18:27The junior team.
18:29Top military officials.
18:31I believe the head of Russian intel, close Putin aides,
18:37the guy that was heading up the talks, Medinsky,
18:41the guy that was heading up the talks in 2022.
18:45Now they're the junior team.
18:48A huge group, by the way.
18:49A huge team that Russia has put together.
18:52But they're a junior team because Putin decided not to show up.
18:56Zelensky.
18:57Zelensky is there.
18:58Not in Istanbul.
18:59He's in Ankara.
19:00But he showed up in Turkey.
19:03So basically the thing that's going on here,
19:06the reason that Lindsey Graham was in Antalya,
19:10the reason he met with Rubio and with the foreign minister of Ukraine,
19:16the reason that you're getting articles in the collective West Media
19:19talking about Putin the coward or the junior team
19:26and Putin not showing up himself is because the trap is being set.
19:31Not for Russia, but for Trump.
19:35The trap is being set by the Europeans, by Zelensky, by Graham, by Rubio.
19:42The trap is being set for U.S. President Trump.
19:45He's falling right into it.
19:47He is falling right into it.
19:49And what's the trap?
19:52Well, the trap is sanctions.
19:55They're going to go to Trump,
19:58all of these guys from Graham to Zelensky to CEO of NATO,
20:03Rutte, who also called the team the B team.
20:06He said this is a junior team or a B team.
20:08CEO of NATO, Mark Rutte.
20:11Who else?
20:12Merck and Macron.
20:15Definitely Macron and 008 Stahmer.
20:18They're all going to go to Trump and they're going to tell Trump,
20:21along with the help of the collective West Media, which Trump reads,
20:24they're going to go to Trump or they're going to say, you know what?
20:27Zelensky's serious.
20:28He showed up personally to Turkey.
20:31And Putin did not show up personally to Turkey.
20:35Therefore, ergo, ergo, ergo, President Trump.
20:42Zelensky's serious about peace.
20:44Russia's not serious about peace.
20:47It's time to place bone crushing sanctions on Russia.
20:51Once Trump places bone crushing sanctions on Russia, there's no turning back.
20:56100 percent.
20:58Trump's war, following the sanctions, is military aid.
21:03Following the military aid is U.S. money.
21:07And the washing machine of Project Ukraine will continue to spin and spin.
21:11That is what this is all about.
21:14That's the trap that's being set, not for Russia, not for Putin,
21:17because they were never serious about peace.
21:20Ukraine is not serious about peace.
21:22The Europeans are not serious about peace.
21:24Instagram is definitely not serious about peace.
21:26This is all about trapping Trump into Project Ukraine over the next one, two, three years, whatever.
21:35And then when Ukraine collapses and when the Russians win, it's going to be all Trump's fault.
21:41That's exactly what is going on here.
21:44The Washington Post put out an article with the title,
21:46Planned Russia-Ukraine Talks, Upend European Push for U.S. Sanctions on Moscow.
21:53The Washington Post published this article yesterday.
21:55And basically what they said is that they were hoping that Trump was going to approve sanctions last week,
22:00late last week, and then Putin came in and ruined it by coming up with his bilateral talks idea.
22:07Trump flip-flopped from sanctions to agreeing to bilateral talks.
22:12And this has disappointed the Europeans because they were really hoping to get Trump to agree to bone-crushing sanctions.
22:18So they've had to amend their plan a bit, and that's when they came up with the Olenski in Istanbul.
22:25I'm going to show up personally.
22:27If Putin doesn't show up personally, then Trump, you definitely have to approve sanctions.
22:31That's basically what the Washington Post is reporting in this article.
22:36And Olenski said as much.
22:39Yesterday, Olenski said that U.S. sanctions will be very dangerous for the Russians.
22:46Trump must come to the conclusion that Putin is lying.
22:49There's a quote from Churchill No. 2.
22:52Trump must come to the conclusion that Putin is lying, and we must approach the matter sensibly
22:57and show that we are not the ones who are holding back these processes.
23:01And that is why I am doing what I am doing, without a doubt.
23:04I am not doing this so that other countries, not just the United States, can see that Putin does not want this.
23:13We expect a package of sanctions from the United States.
23:16I believe that this will hit the Russians hard and will be dangerous for them.
23:21Olenski expects sanctions.
23:23After this entire circus is over with, Olenski expects sanctions on Russia.
23:34So that is what is going on in Istanbul.
23:39By the way, there's going to be a big NATO meeting on the 24th at The Hague
23:45with the top leaders of NATO at this meeting.
23:49And the position of the United States is that they would like Ukraine not to attend this NATO meeting.
23:57And this is angering the Europeans.
24:00They believe that Ukraine should absolutely attend this NATO meeting.
24:09So let's move on and let's talk about Germany and Blackrock Mertz,
24:17a man who likes to drink his cocktails with a spoon, with a stirrer.
24:25Blackrock Mertz.
24:27Anyway, he gave a speech the other day,
24:31and Mertz said that he is going to build the biggest, the strongest, the most powerful German military in all of Europe.
24:46That is what Mertz said.
24:48He actually said that it's not only himself and Germany that wants to build this big, powerful German military,
24:57but it's also the Europeans who are counting on Germany and on Mertz to build the most powerful and strongest military in all of Europe.
25:08What could possibly go wrong?
25:10Germany looking to build a powerful military.
25:14What could possibly go wrong?
25:18Politico says Germany's Mertz vows to build Europe's strongest army.
25:22Our friends and partners also expect this from us.
25:25And what's more, they are actually demanding it, said the new chancellor.
25:30The defense minister of Germany also said that Germany could reintroduce the military draft.
25:38Boris Pistorius says the Bundeswehr needs to boost enlistment amid tensions with Russia.
25:45Pistorius said that Germany needs immediately 100,000 recruits.
25:53Right away it needs 100,000 recruits.
25:58What could possibly go wrong?
26:02A powerful German military.
26:09So Hungary, let's talk about Hungary and what's going on in the northeast of Hungary.
26:19Because what we have going on is some activity between the Ukraine military and the Hungarian military.
26:33Two drones were shot down by the Hungarian military, Ukrainian drones, and they were doing reconnaissance in the northeast.
26:48Of Hungary.
26:53So the military, they knocked down these drones.
26:59And then Orban, he called a meeting of his defense council so they could discuss what is going on.
27:09Man, it is windy. It is windy. Let's see how the audio comes out.
27:15Can't even keep the mic in place.
27:21So what is happening here?
27:26What is Ukraine doing? Why are they trying to provoke some sort of a reaction from Hungary?
27:34Well, I did a video, recorded a video with Alexander, which will be up.
27:41I just finished recording that video and it will probably be up tomorrow because we've got a lot of videos in the pipeline.
27:48But basically what Alexander said is that what the EU is trying to do is they're trying to provoke Hungary into a response against Ukraine.
28:03And once Hungary responds to these drones, then the EU is going to come up with an excuse to somehow punish Hungary to take away their voting rights or something like that.
28:21And they're basically going to say that Hungary is provoking Ukraine.
28:25They're going to turn the tables around and they're going to say how dare Hungary actually provoke Ukraine or act aggressively towards Ukraine.
28:34Hungary needs to be punished. We need to remove their voting rights or do something like that.
28:40They're going to come up with something, some sort of an excuse.
28:45And that's why this is happening. In other words, these drones were sent over Hungary on the orders of Brussels, of the EU headquarters.
28:57They're telling Olenski to provoke Hungary and to get some sort of a military reaction.
29:05Because what they want to do is they want to punish Hungary and remove Hungary's voting rights in the European Union.
29:13How dare you lash out at Ukraine? How dare you shoot down Ukraine military hardware?
29:24How dare you do these things, Hungary? How dare you convene a defense council meeting and you talk aggressively against Ukraine?
29:35Your voting rights must be removed effective immediately. That is what they're trying to do.
29:41We'll see how Hungary and Orbán play this.
29:45Speaking of trying to provoke a military response, we have the very powerful, perhaps the most powerful in the world, Navy from Estonia.
30:00That's right, the Navy. The Estonian Navy.
30:04They tried to seize another civilian vessel that was on its way to Russia in the Gulf of Finland.
30:14And this vessel was in international waters.
30:19And the Estonian Navy, what they tried to do is they tried to direct the vessel towards Estonian waters.
30:31And then they would seize the vessel.
30:35So they were trying to push the vessel and direct the vessel, the civilian vessel, towards Estonian waters and outside of international waters.
30:44And the civilian vessel known as the Jaguar with the flag of Gabon, they basically told the Estonian Navy to F off.
30:57That is what they told them.
30:59They said F off. We're going to stay on course and we're going to make our way to Russia.
31:07And they even got help from a Russian fighter jet.
31:14The more that Estonia was trying to provoke and trying to direct them into Estonian territorial waters, the Russians said, and the more that they resisted, the Russian military said, OK, they need some help.
31:29And so they sent a fighter jet to escort them towards Russia where they safely arrived.
31:35Unbelievable, huh?
31:38Unbelievable.
31:41Good on the crew of this vessel in resisting the pressure from Estonia and from NATO.
31:51NATO, Estonia.
31:54Trying to provoke some sort of a reaction, trying to seize a vessel heading towards Russia, trying to place some sort of a blockade against Russia because at the end of the day, that is what they are doing.
32:12They are trying to put a blockade on vessels trying to make their way to Russia.
32:22Estonia is doing this, everybody. Estonia.
32:42All right, so.
33:09Should we get into some clown worlds?
33:15Yeah, let's talk some clown worlds.
33:19Hillary Clinton.
33:22She's very upset about the whole Qatar plane thing.
33:31And Hillary, she posted on X, no one gives someone $400 million, a $400 million jet for free without expecting anything in return.
33:42Be serious.
33:46This is Hillary Clinton, everybody.
33:49Hillary Clinton saying no one gives someone a $400 million gift without expecting something in return.
33:58From Hillary Clinton Foundation, Clinton.
34:05I don't even need to say anything when it comes to this clown world.
34:11Oh man, by the way, Qatar actually signed an agreement with the United States, with the Trump administration, to purchase 160 Boeing airplanes.
34:22The largest purchase in Boeing's history of this type.
34:26Big news, that's a big, a big deal right there.
34:30160 Boeing planes.
34:33So, Trump, as he was on Air Force One, he was asked about meeting al-Sharaa, or al-Jilani, the HTS al-Qaeda president, leader of Syria.
34:50And Trump, Trump said that, the question was, how did you find the Syrian president?
35:02And Trump said, young, attractive guy, tough guy, strong past, very strong past fighter.
35:09He's got a real shot at holding it all together.
35:12How did you find the Syrian president?
35:15Right, right, I think very good.
35:18Young, attractive guy, tough guy, you know, strong past, very strong past fighter.
35:25But he's got a, he's got a real shot at holding it together.
35:30He's got a real shot at holding it all together.
35:33We know his past, we absolutely know his past.
35:40Unfortunately, we know his past.
35:43Unfortunately, Trump doesn't want to talk about his past.
35:46No one in the collective West wants to talk about his past.
35:50They're just lining up to meet him.
35:53And to get, to get business deals signed.
35:57Anyway, that is the video, everybody.
36:00The Durand.locals.com.
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36:04Go to the Durand shop, pick up some merch, like what I'm wearing in this video update.
36:09The link is in the description box down below.
36:11Take care.
36:13Outro Music