Russia and Ukraine held almost two hours of peace talks in Turkey on Friday, the first direct negotiations of the two parties from their failed conversations in the first weeks of the Kremlin invasion in 2022.
President Vladimir Putin rejected his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zenskyr Zelensky Sacrifice to meet face to face in Istanbul, instead of sending a delegation directed by Vladimir Medinsky, Kremlin Whoo’s assistant directed the negotiations with Ukraine.
Medinsky joined the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mikhail Galuzin, Vice Minister of Defense Alexander F and Igor Kostyukov, the head of the Military Intelligence Agency of the Gru de Russia.
Experts have described The Renaissance of Moscow of direct conversations within the framework of Istanbul as a symbolic gesture that does not intend to seek a real solution to war.
The Moscow Times analyzes the man who directs the delegation of Russia:
Political career
Medinsky, 54, is an outstanding Russian political figure and historian known for his nationalist opinions of a hard line and his narrow links with Putin.
Former Deputy of the State of the Duma, he also serves as president and first secretary of the Union of Writers of Russia, as well as President of the Russian Military Historical Society.
Duration His time as Minister of Culture of 2012-2020, Mediansky implemented policies aimed at strengthening state control over cultural narratives, believer That culture for patriotic shoulder purposes.
Passion for History
Medinsky is a prolific author, who has written several books that promote Russian nationalism and challenge Western narratives on the country’s adjustments with Putin’s narrative.
His series “Myths about Russia”, whose objective is to discredit what he considers false stereotypes about Russia, has caused strong criticism of historians.
A group of academics published a book Entitled “Anti-Medinsky: A refutation. How the history of the” history “of the ruling party, challenging its interpretations and accusing or distorting historical facts to serve political agendas.
In 2017, Medinsky faced An important academic scandal about its doctoral dissertation, “problems of objectivity in the representation of Russian history in the second half of the seventeenth to seventeenth centuries”, which several historians criticized as non -scientific and plagued by erors.
The Superior Station Commission of the Expert Council of Russia recommended to revoke its doctorate, but Mediansky maintained its title.
Role in the Ukraine War
After the large -scale invasion of Russia of Ukraine in 2022, Medinsky, who was born in Ukraine, emerged as a key figure in diplomatic efforts between the two countries, which represents the interests of the Kremlin at the negotiating table.
According to the draft of the Istanbul 2022 communication, which Reuters revisedUkraine would accept permanent neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as other nations, including Belarus, Canada, Germany, Israel, Poland and Turkey.
Ukraine provisionally agreed to non -nuclear neutrality and resigned from NATO membership in exchange for a security guarantee. That guarantee would force the United States and its allies to fight Russia directly if Russia invaded Ukraine again, Reuters reported.
The conversations broke after several rounds of negotiations.
Medinsky’s travel point as a chief negotiator in 2025 was with skepticism from Ukrainian experts and officials, who questioned their authority to make binding decisions.
Zensky called the Russian delegation directed by Medinsky a “farce” that lacks a genuine intention to end the conflict.
“The Head of the Delegation … does not seem quite appropriate here,” saying Alexander Baunov, main merit member endowment for international peace. “He is a technocrat or a specialist, but he is an interpreter of highly ideological and inaccurate history for a mass audience.”
“In a way, this fits Putin’s vision of war in Ukraine as mainly a means to correct a historical error: the emergence of a separation and, in addition, a” incorrect “Ukraine,” Baunov said.
“Some say that Medinsky’s role is acceptable because supposedly ‘almost reached’ an application in the spring of 2022 … In fact, all the most important problems were the latest personal meetings at higher and higher levels, the size of the Ukrainian army and the list of peace countries.
