After several meetings in Belarus and by videoconference, a new session of talks between Ukraine and Russia was held this Tuesday, March 29 in Istanbul, Turkey. The exchanges will ultimately not continue tomorrow, contrary to what had been envisaged. But this is not a bad sign: the two parties have indeed reported progress after their meeting.
With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
The discussions in Istanbul, which lasted four hours interspersed with breaks, above all enabled Ukraine to present in detail to Russia the security guarantees it intends to obtain in exchange for a form of neutrality – of its renunciation of joining NATO and harboring foreign troops on its soil.
At the end of the meeting, the Ukrainian negotiators evoked a mechanism which would resemble that triggered by article 5 of the NATO treaty in the event of aggression by one of its members. An international mechanism that would allow, among other things, in the event of an attack on Ukraine and the failure of a rapid diplomatic solution, guarantor countries to help the country to defend itself. This is kyiv’s proposal, which now says it is waiting for a response from Moscow.
The Russian side, meanwhile, also reported progress, calling the exchanges “ substantial “. First concrete effect: to give dialogue a chance, Russia has announced that it will reduce “ radically » its military activity in the regions of kyiv and Cherniguiv.
Finally, the Turkish Foreign Minister, host of the meeting, welcomed the outcome of these talks. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu considered that the negotiations had made their most “progress” today. significant since the beginning of the war. He also said he expects the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy to meet very soon.
