Global attention is focused on Russia-Ukraine talks in Constantinople but nothing is certain about the course of developments. The two delegations, the Russian and Ukrainian, are in Constantinople while President Zelenski arrived at Ankara by air at noon and will meet with President Erdogan before the negotiations began. In his first statements he said that “Turkey is involved in peace” but also said that the Russian delegation is not “capable of making decisions”.

In the Russian-Ukraine talks, which will be held later at the Turkish Presidency Office in Bahce, it is expected that the two sides will set their own terms for peace. The absence of the Russian president from the conversations makes many wonder if Putin left the opportunity for peace to be lost. But the Russian delegation is absent not only by the president but also by Sergei Lavrov and foreign policy assistant Yuri Usakov with other members of the delegation being judged to be “small political weight”.

Trump would come if Putin came

The sudden statement by President Trump from Doha, Qatar, that he could visit Constantinople tomorrow if this would help in Ukraine and Russia talks, but Putin came, for the time being a new momentum in the process of Turkish media, he could have a new dynamic.

But hopes were lost when the Kremlin announced in that the talks would begin this afternoon but without the involvement of the Russian president, a statement that caused the corresponding refusal by President Trump. Putin’s absence from conversations and lack of strong names in the Russian delegation reduces the importance of the meeting. That is why the Ukrainian president’s meeting with President Erdogan will be particularly burdensome on the next steps that may agree on the Ukrainian.