World
Hopes for a peace deal center on negotiators at a palace in Istanbul.
ISTANBUL — On Tuesday, for the primary time in additional than two weeks, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators got here nose to nose. They did so over a white tablecloth at an extended desk inside a Nineteenth-century Ottoman palace on the banks of the Bosporus, welcomed personally by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who greeted them in English with “good morning.”
After greater than a month of talks — first in particular person in Belarus, then in current weeks by video hyperlink — the diplomacy between Ukraine and Russia operating in parallel to their battle entered a brand new section on Tuesday. The truth that the negotiations had turn into extra severe was mirrored within the setting, the palace the place Mr. Erdogan — who has maintained ties with each Moscow and Kyiv — typically holds main authorities occasions when in Istanbul.
“Because the members of the delegations, you’ve gotten shouldered a historic accountability,” Mr. Erdogan instructed the delegates, addressing them from a podium earlier than an paintings displaying birds drifting over Istanbul landmarks. “All of the world is anticipating excellent news from you.”
David Arakhamia, the pinnacle of the nine-person Ukrainian delegation, mentioned that holding the talks in Turkey was a “victory” in itself, as a result of Turkey “is our good friend and companion.” The sooner in-person rounds of talks had been held in Belarus, Russia’s closest ally.
However Turkey, whereas a NATO member, has additionally been decided to take care of ties with Russia, refusing to hitch sanctions in opposition to Moscow and sustaining direct air connections to a number of Russian cities. Mr. Erdogan mentioned that after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine have been prepared to satisfy in particular person, Turkey could be able to host them.
In video footage of the assembly distributed by Turkey, the 2 delegations couldn’t be seen shaking arms, with the Russians arriving after the Ukrainians have been already seated. However they made small discuss in Russian, as when Mr. Arakhamia instructed the pinnacle of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, that the little bottle on the desk was hand sanitizer; Mr. Medinsky’s response was not absolutely audible, however some Russian media mentioned he quipped, “Vodka, I believed.”
The Russian delegates wore fits, whereas the Ukrainians have been dressed extra casually, one in a short-sleeve shirt, one other in navy fatigues.
The delegates gathered on the grounds of the Dolmabahce Palace in central Istanbul. It was the place Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of contemporary Turkey, died in 1938, and it’s now utilized in half by Mr. Erdogan as considered one of his places of work when he’s in Istanbul.
Additionally within the room as Mr. Erdogan spoke was Roman Abramovich, the Russian enterprise tycoon who’s reported to have shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv to attempt to push the talks ahead. Stories have emerged that he and a number of other Ukrainian negotiators had been victims of a possible poisoning after struggling signs together with impaired imaginative and prescient at earlier rounds of talks. Mr. Abramovich sat subsequent to Ibrahim Kalin, Mr. Erdogan’s spokesman.
Safak Timur contributed reporting.