Meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (right) and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba in Ankara, March 10, 2022 CEM OZDEL / AFP
Turkey-sponsored first direct talks, held in the seaside resort of Antalya on Thursday 10 March between Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Dmitry Kuleba, were unsuccessful. The two diplomats failed to agree on a ceasefire. An icy face-to-face meeting without a handshake lasted an hour and a half and ended in vain, and the merciless war between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine has only been going on for the third week.
The joint press conference did not take place, each gave his own. With characteristic confidence, Mr. Lavrov assured that his country “did not invade Ukraine” and that the Mariupol maternity hospital, which was shelled Thursday morning by Russian militants, which killed 3 people, was in fact hosting the “Azov Battalion” and other radicals”, a way to acknowledge the deliberate nature of the airstrike. Moscow “never wanted a war and seeks to end the current conflict,” he assured, but the contacts “should have added value,” namely the surrender of Ukraine, which Russia continues to demand.
According to Mr. Kuleba, Russian aggression will continue until Ukraine capitulates – such a message was sent to him by his colleague. “We cannot stop the war if the aggressor country does not want it,” he lamented. The failure he expected. Before arriving in Antalya, he admitted that his expectations were “limited” given the unprecedented brutality of the Russian army on the ground, which besieged and shelled Ukrainian cities, targeting civilians, schools, hospitals. He also recalled that the room for maneuver of the head of Russian diplomacy was limited, as it depended “on instructions” received from Mr. Putin.
Read alsoThe article is reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: “We thought we were in Russia, but woke up in the USSR”
It was Mr. Lavrov’s first trip abroad without a podium as Russia was isolated by sanctions and air links to the rest of the world were cut off. Turkey, the rare country that left its airspace open, offered him a stepping stone he couldn’t refuse. The reception was warm from the Turkish side, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who sponsored the meeting, saying it would be a “turning point”.
Turkey in an awkward position
By imposing himself as a “neutral” mediator in the conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also seeking to mend his tainted relations with his traditional allies, much annoyed by his security alliance with Russia. His wiggle room is narrow. According to researcher Galip Dalai of the Chatham House think tank, “Turkey’s geopolitical balance with Russia is to try to be pro-Kiev without being overtly anti-Moscow.”
You have 53.65% of this article left to read. Further only for subscribers.