Putin's media prepares russians for potential talks collapse
The political bloc of Vladimir Putin's administration has instructed subordinate media to prepare audiences for the potential failure of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul, reports "Meduza", citing the guidelines received by media heads.
In the document obtained by Mediazona, it mentions, among other things, a "new package of sanctions" which the Trump administration threatened the Kremlin with in the event of sabotaging the peace process. The propaganda media have been advised to convey that the new sanctions "will not harm the country's development," and the budget has already been "constructed with them in mind."
According to the instructions, loyal media are to convince audiences that Russia "is successfully coping with any sanctions," including—as highlighted in the document—those in the energy sector, which is "developing steadily."
Putin initiates talks. He chickened out himself
Putin's refusal to attend the negotiations—which he himself had initiated—should be explained by the media as a sign of his decisiveness. Instead of attending, Putin sent his advisor Vladimir Medinsky to Istanbul. As noted in the guidelines, this decision was influenced "neither anything Donald Trump said nor anything Zelensky declared."
The first direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv representatives since 2022 were almost broken off after Zelenskyy proposed a personal meeting with Putin. However, Putin decided against going to Istanbul and sent a four-member delegation, partially mirroring the team from previous talks with Ukrainians three years ago.
Besides Medinsky, the delegation included Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, and head of Russian military intelligence Igor Kostyukov. Zelenskyy, who was in Turkey for talks with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called the delegation's composition "decorative" and stated there was "no reason" to go to Istanbul.
Moscow wants to return to talks from 2022
The talks, which were originally scheduled for Thursday, May 15, were postponed to Friday. According to the latest information, the start was planned for 4 a.m. Eastern Time.
Medinsky, in a statement to the media, expressed that Russia regards these negotiations as a continuation of the process that took place in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, a few weeks after the war began. At that time, Moscow demanded that Kyiv abandon plans to join NATO, recognize the Russian status of Crimea and Donbas, and radically reduce the size of its armed forces.
