Putin is master of endless negotiations — Manhattan University professor

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

“Putin will never agree to the existence of Ukraine—as a state, as part of Europe. He cannot accept the fact that there is a Ukrainian nation, that Ukrainians are a people with their own culture and language. In other words, he will never come to terms with this. Therefore, he will do everything possible and impossible to achieve his goal. But this absolutely does not mean that he is capable of achieving it or making significant progress in this direction,” Aizenberg emphasized.

According to him, in Istanbul, the parties will not be able to agree on anything, since Russian representatives will once again repeat their mantras. J.D. Vance has already stated that the United States cannot agree to Russia effectively gaining control over those territories it failed to capture. That is, the issue is about Ukraine withdrawing its troops from parts of the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions.

“I believe that reaching any real agreements with the Russian Federation is simply impossible. If Trump and Putin were to meet, theoretically one could assume that they might agree on something. But in my opinion, even people like Lavrov do not have the authority to decide anything—they are only engaged in propaganda,” Aizenberg noted.

The professor added that the idea of a meeting in Istanbul, proposed by Putin, was aimed at Trump. 

“Why? It was a response to events in Kyiv, when the leaders of four leading European countries, together with Ukraine, proposed an unconditional ceasefire starting Monday, threatening new sanctions against Russia in case of refusal. In response, Putin made his move—he proposed a meeting in Istanbul, hoping that Trump would latch onto it. And Trump indeed immediately supported it. 

Putin understands well that Trump needs him, that Trump wants to maintain these so-called negotiations, this dialogue. And Putin knows well the tactic of endless negotiations. At one time, the Soviet Union conducted such endless negotiations with the United States on arms reduction,” Aizenberg summarized.

Negotiations with the Russian Federation: What is known

During a late-night address on May 11, Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated that he was allegedly ready for direct talks with the Ukrainian side in Turkey as early as next week. At the same time, he ignored the idea of a 30-day ceasefire. In response, American leader Donald Trump said he would continue to work with both sides, and that the coming week would be “big.”

On May 12, the German government stated that if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by the end of the day, European partners would begin preparing new sanctions. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that “the language of ultimatums is unacceptable for Russia.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, stated that on May 15 in Turkey, Zelenskyy would not meet with any other representative of the Russian Federation except dictator Vladimir Putin. Later, the president himself confirmed that he would personally fly to Turkey to meet with Putin.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that at the negotiations in Istanbul, Kyiv should recognize the “realities on the ground,” in particular—the inclusion of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine into Russia.