- 5/15/2025
After long delays and attempts to downplay Moscow’s diplomatic presence, Russia confirms that direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul will restart from the 2022 framework, focusing on the root causes of the conflict. Ukrainian President Zelensky appoints his Defense Minister to lead Kiev’s delegation. Meanwhile, veteran diplomat Andrey Telizhenko suggests Zelensky sought more military aid from the UK and France just before the talks. 🕊️🤝🇹🇷
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#RussiaUkraine #PeaceTalks #IstanbulNegotiations #Zelensky #Putin #UkraineWar #Geopolitics #UkraineCrisis #MilitaryAid #UKFrance #DefenseDiplomacy #Telizhenko #ConflictResolution #UkraineRussia #BreakingNews
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NewsTranscript
00:00We view these talks as the continuation of the peace process in Istanbul, which sadly was broken by the Ukrainian class three years ago.
00:12Our official delegation, its membership, has been decreed by the President of the Russian Federation, and we have all the mandates and competences to conduct the negotiations.
00:26We are committed to finding possible ways of resolution and common grounds.
00:32The goal of our direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is sooner or later to arrive at a lasting peace by eliminating the core reasons of the conflict.
00:46Well, Kiev's delegation at the talks with Moscow will be led by Ukraine's defense minister.
00:52That's the latest announcement from Vladimir Zelensky just a few hours after he tried to dispute the status of Russia's negotiators.
01:01Despite the rather low level of representation of the Russian delegation, out of respect for President Trump, out of respect for the high-level delegation of Turkey, and to President Erdogan,
01:13we want to try to take at least the first steps towards de-escalation, towards a ceasefire and the end of the war.
01:19I have now decided to send our delegation to Istanbul.
01:23The heads of the Ukrainian Security Service and the chief of staff will not be present, but the delegation will be led by the defense minister.
01:31He will be joined by professionals, military personnel, and intelligence officers.
01:35We do not recognize all temporarily occupied territories as Russian.
01:40This is Ukrainian land.
01:42Well, RT correspondent Igor Shanov is actually outside the presidential palace, where Russian negotiators have been waiting since this morning.
01:49for their Ukrainian counterparts to show up.
01:53We are just outside the Russian consulate here in Istanbul, and this is the new spot.
01:59Basically, this is where the spotlight is here.
02:03In fact, any minute now we're being expected to be invited in.
02:07In fact, this is one of the staffers who just walked right past me, right behind me, one of the staffers of the consulate.
02:13He is giving a breakdown to the media because Vladimir Medinsky, who is leading the Russian negotiating team, he's about to give a statement, to give a speech.
02:23It happens against the backdrop of the Ukrainian side, just announcing that they will be coming to Istanbul.
02:30Not Zelensky, not in person.
02:31He will be sending his, essentially, his envoys, and Medinsky is about to speak very shortly.
02:39We are standing by here to hear from the man himself, to hear what he has to say.
02:46So far, his message has been that the Russian delegation is, well, basically they are ready, that they are aiming to be productive,
02:55and that they aim to leave Istanbul with some progress being made.
03:02Now, again, any minute now we will be heading inside.
03:05All of that, of course, following Ukraine doing everything in their power to stool the process.
03:13Just a quick reminder, Zelensky and his retinue first flew into Ankara,
03:18and from over there, Zelensky was saying that, well, they are, that, well, they are, only then they will make any decisions.
03:27A root causes of the conflict should be front and centre in the negotiations.
03:31That was the main message of President Putin when he announced Istanbul's round of talks.
03:37Well, his RT's senior correspondent with an extended look at what exactly those underlying issues are.
03:43Some like to think that the Ukrainian conflict started in 2022 with Russia's special military operation,
03:53or after the Maidan coup in 2014 when Kiev invaded the Donbass and the Ukrainian civil war erupted.
04:04It went on for eight years, but the conflict began much earlier.
04:10It began decades ago, when all those presidents and prime ministers and generals in NATO,
04:17they gathered together, and they decided that it would be a good idea to expand and expand towards Russia.
04:29NATO expansion does not have any relation to modernisation of the alliance itself,
04:35or with ensuring security in Europe.
04:37On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust.
04:45And we have the right to ask, against whom is this expansion intended?
04:50And what happened to the assurances our Western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact?
04:56Where are those declarations today?
04:59No one even remembers them.
05:01But I will allow myself to remind this audience what was said.
05:05I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Werner in Brussels on 17 May 1990.
05:12He said at the time that the fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory
05:19gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.
05:23Where are these guarantees?
05:24Imagine, for a moment, you're Russian.
05:28The Cold War is over.
05:30Communism has collapsed.
05:32You lost.
05:33And you admitted it.
05:35No more ideological confrontations.
05:38So why is NATO expanding towards you?
05:41Why are American and British and French troops and tanks and rockets being stationed closer and closer and closer to your borders?
05:55The idea that Russia would or could invade NATO is, frankly speaking, idiotic.
06:02An idea for idiots.
06:05And Putin brings it up time and time again over decades.
06:10We intend to cooperate with NATO, just like with many other organizations in the world.
06:17As for NATO's expansion policy, we don't believe that automatic expansion leads to the solution of modern problems.
06:25When was it created?
06:26When there was a confrontation between two blocks?
06:29When there was an evil empire in the form of the Soviet Union?
06:34At least then it was clear what NATO was created for.
06:38Today there's no Soviet Union, and there's no Eastern Bloc, and there's no Warsaw Pact.
06:43Who does NATO exist against?
06:45As things were, Russia and NATO had a buffer zone between them.
06:52Everyone seemed happy, and that was that.
06:56So why go and upset everything, destroy stability and balance, and heighten the risk of conflict, which 18 years ago is exactly what NATO did?
07:10NATO welcomes Ukraine's and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO.
07:16We agree today that these countries will become members of NATO.
07:22Suddenly, Russia is being told that American, European rockets and tanks and potentially even nukes are going to appear on its borders, Ukraine and Georgia.
07:35Oh, there were plenty in NATO who thought that this was a bad idea.
07:40There were plenty in the White House who thought that this was a bad idea.
07:46Now, they know that it was a bad idea.
07:50Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching.
08:10NATO expansion was a political act, recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests.
08:16Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split involving violence or, at worst, civil war.
08:30In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene, a decision Russia does not want to have to face.
08:36It isn't just the old guard, the old timers, who saw it coming.
08:42NATO, in its current form, the leadership, they were told expressly that their expansion would start a war.
08:50They ignored it. Some laughed it off. Some even boasted about this.
08:55The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and he actually sent a draft treaty that he wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement.
09:08That was what he sent us.
09:11And that was a precondition for not to invade Ukraine.
09:17Of course, we didn't sign that.
09:19The opposite happened.
09:21He wanted us to sign a promise never to enlarge NATO.
09:24He wanted us to remove our military infrastructure in all allies that have joined NATO since 1997, meaning half of NATO, all the central and eastern Europe.
09:35We should remove NATO from that part of our alliance, introducing some kind of E and B, a second-class membership.
09:44We rejected that.
09:46So he went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO close to its borders.
09:51You know, the mantra that they've chanted for three years now, Russia's unprovoked aggression, Russia's unprovoked invasion, Russia's unprovoked war.
10:03Well, it turns out that it was provoked, which, of course, everyone understands.
10:08They're just too shameless to say it.
10:12Everyone else understands.
10:15This is a crisis that is all about the West's efforts to turn Ukraine into a western bulwark on Russia's border.
10:25It involves a three-pronged strategy, bringing Ukraine into the EU, turning Ukraine into a pro-western liberal democracy,
10:37and number three, and most importantly, bringing Ukraine into NATO.
10:42If you listen to Putin's speeches and you read his writings, he has made it unequivocally clear that this is the principal problem.
10:53Imagine, once again, you're Russian.
10:56They've rejected all of your concerns and all of your arguments and pleas about stopping the expansion of NATO.
11:04So you start thinking, what's next?
11:07Next, you'll have a Ukraine, where neo-Nazis and Hitler's allies, holocaust perpetrators, are national heroes,
11:16where hatred of Russia is taught by the state in kindergarten.
11:22You'll have that Ukraine geared and rearing for war for Crimea, for Donbass, and they'll be part of NATO.
11:32Listen carefully to what I have to say.
11:39The doctrinal documents of Ukraine itself say that they are going to retake Crimea, including by military means.
11:47It's not what they say in public, but it's written in the documents.
11:52Let's imagine that Ukraine is a member of NATO.
11:55It is packed with weapons.
11:57It receives modern strike systems like the ones in Poland and Romania, and it begins an operation in Crimea.
12:05I'm not talking about the Donbass right now.
12:07This is sovereign Russian territory.
12:09The issue is closed for us.
12:11Let's imagine that Ukraine is a NATO country and begins these military operations.
12:17Are we fighting with the NATO bloc?
12:19Has anyone thought about it?
12:20It doesn't seem like it.
12:21We have never agreed to NATO's expansion, especially not with Ukraine joining NATO.
12:26We never accepted the presence of NATO bases there without any discussions with us.
12:30For decades, we pleaded, do not do this.
12:33What served as a trigger for the recent events?
12:35First of all, the current Ukrainian leadership stated that it would not fulfill the Minsk agreements
12:39signed after the events of 2014 in Minsk, where a peace settlement plan for Donbass was outlined.
12:45The current leadership of Ukraine declared that they are not satisfied with these German agreements
12:50and do not intend to comply.
12:52The former leaders of Germany and France have openly admitted that they signed the Minsk agreement,
12:56but never intended to implement it.
12:59Can you imagine the sheer cynicism of what Angela Merkel, Germany's former chancellor, admitted to?
13:08The entire Minsk peace agreements were a ruse, a sham to win time and to rearm Ukraine.
13:17They literally used a path to peace to march to war.
13:24Of course, back then, in the early days of the war, they thought that they could win,
13:30thought that Ukraine could win, that they would defeat Russia.
13:35I'm absolutely convinced that Putin will fail and Russia will suffer a strategic defeat.
13:43For God's sake, this man cannot remain power.
13:48Putin will fail and Ukraine and Europe will prevail.
13:53Allies agree that Ukraine's future is in NATO.
13:57And we are determined to make progress in charting this path.
14:01Membership will be Ukraine's ultimate security guarantee.
14:07These three years have been difficult on everyone.
14:12The United States has spent hundreds of billions on a war that cannot be won.
14:18Europe gave up its economies virtually.
14:22Without Russian energy and resources, the Russian market, European industry cannot dominate.
14:28They gave up their arsenals and uniforms and ludicrous amounts of money to keep the war going.
14:36And look where we are now.
14:38They now admit that Ukraine isn't going to win and isn't getting into NATO.
14:45The war didn't need to happen.
14:47It was provoked.
14:48It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians.
14:51There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO.
14:56The president has spoken about this.
14:58That didn't need to happen.
14:59In Washington, again, NATO committed to future NATO membership for Ukraine.
15:05But it has never been agreed that whenever peace talks would start, that peace talks would end anyway and always and definitely with NATO membership.
15:16That has never been agreed.
15:17It could be, but there has never been a promise to Ukraine that as part of a peace deal, they would be in NATO.
15:24So what was it all for?
15:26Putin, they now admit, has stopped NATO expansion.
15:31Three years ago, they promised he would never be able to do that.
15:35Ukraine now admits that it cannot return its former territories on the battlefield and that it cannot win this war.
15:44What was the point of it all?
15:48So much death and destruction and suffering.
15:51And that is a question that every NATO leader will face until their dying day.
15:58Well, we're now joined from London by Ukrainian parliament member Artyom Dimitrovsk.
16:06A very warm welcome to the programme.
16:09It's always good to obviously get your insight.
16:14The first thing I want to ask you, Mr. Dimitrovsk, can you hear me?
16:18I think it looks like we might have a bit of a connection problem.
16:27Mr. Dimitrovsk, can you hear me one more time?
16:29This is Saskia Taylor in the studio in Moscow.
16:33No, I think it looks we're going to try and get another contact with him and bring him back a bit later on in the programme.
16:41Well, in the meantime, what we did do is we did speak to veteran Ukrainian diplomat Andrei Telizhenko.
16:46And he was really telling us that Kiev is now seeking strong guarantees for some European powers instead of the US.
16:55From my information, from the insights from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,
16:59that right now Zelenskyy is negotiating with London and Paris.
17:03Not listening to Washington anymore, but London and Paris, that if he gets more weapons, he gets more money,
17:09and he gets boots on the ground from those countries, basically NATO countries, to support Ukrainian army to fight against Russia,
17:16then he may agree and move forward with negotiations, or it depends what,
17:20or he may sabotage them right directly while this process is going.
17:23So this is what the insights of the so-called diplomatic corps of Kiev is giving us today,
17:29and this is what we're going to see if this is going to happen here in Istanbul.
17:33Will these talks ever happen?
17:35Will these people ever think about Ukrainians who are suffering from all this on the ground?
17:40And my guess, unfortunately not.
17:43This regime is not thinking about Ukraine at all.
17:46Zelenskyy is not thinking about Ukrainians.
17:47He's trying to play this game for himself.
17:50He's trying to trade things for himself, trade his personal security,
17:54his seat as the president of Ukraine, and for basically peace.
18:00And that is what is happening here, and that's why it's taking so long.
18:03This is why Zelenskyy made it into a show to have Putin here,
18:06then he doesn't want Putin here, then he's ready to talk, then he's not ready to talk.
18:10So no consistency at all.
18:12This is what Ukraine diplomacy is about.
18:15Well, let's see if it is second time lucky.
18:18Joining me from London, the Ukrainian Parliament member, Artyom Dimitryk.
18:23Mr. Dimitryk, can you hear me?
18:29Yes, I can hear you.
18:31Wonderful.
18:32The first thing I want to ask you, I mean, I want to get your insights specifically on this
18:38because of your background.
18:39You are someone who was recently actually forced to leave Ukraine
18:43because of persecution by the authorities in Kiev.
18:47So the events that are happening in Istanbul,
18:49presumably they have a direct impact on your own fate.
18:54What are your hopes for today's events?
18:56Thank you for your question.
19:08And the first thing that I hope for
19:14and all the people of our country hope for
19:19is to put an end to the war as soon as possible.
19:25The first thing and the most important thing for all of us
19:28is to attain ceasefire, to stop the hostilities
19:32and to start gradually moving towards attaining peace.
19:39And of course, we all understand that these processes will help to legitimize the authorities in Ukraine
19:52and they will also help bringing back lawfulness in Ukraine.
20:00So gradually law will be brought back to Ukraine
20:05because currently the regime ruling over Ukraine is a terrorist Zelensky regime
20:14who seized full authority in Ukraine
20:17and there are no, there is no law that is functioning in our country.
20:25And basically our country, Ukraine,
20:28is being used as a private military company
20:31in the hands of Zelensky
20:33under the guidance of certain Western factions.
20:38As for me personally, of course, I hope that as a result of this process
20:47I will be able to go back to Ukraine
20:49to fulfill my obligations towards Ukraine,
20:53towards the people of Ukraine.
20:56So I personally hope that during the peaceful settlement,
21:02during this peaceful process,
21:04there would be changes in the way that Ukraine is being ruled,
21:11is being managed.
21:14So as one of the conditions during the negotiations
21:17between Russia and Ukraine
21:19will be to put legitimate authority in Ukraine.
21:23And for this, Ukraine needs elections
21:26because no deep, fundamental matters
21:33cannot be resolved or signed
21:36with the current regime,
21:39with the authorities that exist in Ukraine today.
21:43Because if we speak about the beginning
21:46of the negotiations in Turkey today,
21:48in my opinion,
21:53that's how they should be divided.
21:57The conditions on how the authorities can be changed in Ukraine
22:01and how the authorities can be deemed legal in Ukraine
22:06because there are no legal, lawful authorities in Ukraine currently
22:09because there is no one for the Russian Federation
22:12to sign any fundamental agreements.
22:15And after that, after this is accomplished,
22:18we can go on with achieving other agreements.
22:24If we say that the process in Turkey has been launched
22:27and the most important matters are stopping the hostilities,
22:34ceasefire,
22:35all the parties of the conflict are looking forward to it.
22:37Looking at what is happening in Takiyah today,
22:43Zelensky has already called the Russian delegation
22:46a, quote, sham.
22:48He said that he'll only negotiate with Putin.
22:53His delegation is only now en route from Ankara to Istanbul.
22:57The Russian delegation has been waiting for many, many hours.
23:01When you take all of this collectively,
23:03what does it say about how seriously Kiev is committed
23:09to finding a long-lasting, sustainable peace?
23:13Well, that's the most important question to answer
23:26because now we need to understand.
23:32So what is the Kiev regime
23:36and what is possible to negotiate with it?
23:39Because that's the first question to ask.
23:42What was wrong about Minsk-1 Accords,
23:49Minsk-2 Accords,
23:50about Istanbul Accords?
23:52And I can tell you
23:54there was lack of willingness to attain peace
23:58because it contradicts the very nature
24:01of the Kiev regime,
24:05of the way it functions,
24:06of the way it works.
24:07So these campaigns that we can witness in Ukraine,
24:13these people there,
24:15they do not want peace.
24:18They continue to live and continue to work in Ukraine
24:21only via the ongoing war.
24:24And we can see clear signals
24:27from the head of the Kiev regime,
24:30from these terrorists,
24:32from the head of this terrorist organization.
24:35We see him looking for all possible ways
24:38to disrupt these negotiations.
24:41And the other side,
24:44the Russian side,
24:45from them we can see clear,
24:48consistent,
24:49precise position,
24:51not only starting from 2022,
24:55from March of 2022.
24:58That was manifested long before that,
25:01starting from 2014.
25:02So it's an opposite position
25:06where the Russian party
25:07is looking for durable,
25:09sustainable settlement of this matter.
25:12Russia is looking for peace.
25:15And the side that is represented by Kiev,
25:17they are looking for any ways
25:19to prolong this conflict.
25:23And we need to ask clear questions.
25:29Why would the Kiev regime want a truce?
25:35Why do they demand it?
25:37If they need it
25:38to continue to carry out
25:43their hostile,
25:45Western-designed missions
25:48to be a problem for Russia,
25:51so they would use peace
25:53to strengthen,
25:54to consolidate
25:55their military positions
25:56as they did before,
25:58then that's just wrong.
25:59Then it wouldn't work.
26:01But if they want this truce,
26:0430-day truce,
26:05or no matter how long it lasts,
26:08if they need this truce
26:09to prepare the country
26:11to liberate Ukraine from Zelensky,
26:13if they need this time
26:14to prepare the country
26:16for the next phase
26:17of the negotiations process
26:19for the elections
26:20or the elections taking place
26:22after the negotiations,
26:24then it's a different matter completely.
26:27So we need to understand first
26:30what are the goals
26:31of those people
26:33who are participating
26:35in this process.
26:38And we need to understand
26:40one fundamental thing
26:41about this whole process.
26:42The main problem
26:44on the path towards peace
26:46is Zelensky.
26:47And only if Ukraine
26:49is liberated from this person,
26:52then constructive dialogue
26:55would be possible
26:56between Russia and Ukraine
26:58with those politicians
27:00who would be using clear formulas,
27:06clear rules of cooperation,
27:08of working with the United States
27:10of America,
27:10with the Russian Federation,
27:12with other countries,
27:14those politicians
27:15who are speaking about clear,
27:18normal, viable plans.
27:19And only with these politicians,
27:21only with these factions,
27:23one can build real diplomatic ties.
27:26Then this will be the main,
27:31the strongest guarantee
27:33of security.
27:34This firm, friendly handshake
27:37between the future head of Ukraine,
27:40be it the president
27:41or acting president
27:44or the head of the parliament,
27:46but only a legitimate ruler
27:48of Ukraine
27:49and the head
27:49of the Russian Federation.
27:51And all the rest,
27:52you can call whatever you want.
27:54You can call it a preparation
27:55for the peaceful process,
27:57a preparation for peace.
27:59But until we can build clear,
28:03transparent, respectful,
28:06that's the main thing,
28:07respectful relations
28:08between Ukraine and Russia,
28:11if Ukraine shows respectful attitude
28:14towards Russia,
28:16not this boorish behavior,
28:20not this anti-diplomatic,
28:22anti-popular behavior
28:24on behalf of Ukraine.
28:26Until that happens,
28:27then nothing concrete
28:29can be attained.
28:31So if we want to speak about peace,
28:34then this conversation
28:35can only start
28:36after the regime
28:38is changed in Ukraine.
28:40Well, let's hope certainly
28:41that the coming...
28:42As for the situation today,
28:44of course,
28:45we understand
28:46that Zelensky
28:48is being
28:51ruled over
28:53by certain factions
28:54in the West
28:55and he's under
28:56the influence
28:57of Mr. Trump
28:58among other people.
29:02So
29:02that means
29:04even now
29:05some small steps
29:06are possible
29:07on the path
29:08towards the future
29:09negotiations
29:10about peace.
29:12and another important thing
29:14that I have to mention
29:15in this regard.
29:17During these negotiations
29:19and under its previous formulas,
29:22Minsk 1
29:22and Minsk 2
29:23and Istanbul 1,
29:25everyone was speaking
29:30about the interest
29:32and security
29:32of the European Union,
29:34of NATO,
29:35of the US,
29:36of Ukraine,
29:37but no one
29:38wants to listen
29:39to the other party.
29:41No one
29:42wants to accept
29:43the conditions
29:44of the Russian Federation,
29:46the words
29:47or the items
29:48of the agreement
29:49that Moscow
29:50is speaking about.
29:53If that's
29:54how these negotiations
29:56go on,
29:58then it...
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