Ukraine, second round of US-Russia talks in Istanbul. Putin accuses “Western elites” of not wanting peace

Brussels – The second round of talks between Russian and U.S. officials to prepare the negotiating “table” for peace in Ukraine began this morning (Feb. 27) in Istanbul, Turkey. As Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to leave for Washington, where Donald Trump expects him to seal the much-discussed agreement on Kyiv’s minerals, Russia and the United States confirm the reopening of diplomatic channels begun last February 18 in Riyadh with the meeting between Foreign Ministers Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov.

The meeting is being held at the headquarters of the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for a meeting between the two presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Turkey has reiterated its readiness to host the bilateral meeting between the leaders of the two superpowers. The EU, stabbed last night by Trump’s announcement of tariffs, remains apprehensively watching its longtime ally wink at public enemy number one. The president of the European Council, António Costa, called Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “In these difficult times, we appreciate Turkey’s role as an important global and regional player and seek to work closely together to ensure lasting peace in Ukraine and support an inclusive and democratic transition in Syria,” the EU leader wrote on X on the sidelines of the phone conversation.

Good phone call with president @RTErdogan. Türkiye is a strategic partner, an EU candidate country, and a @NATO ally. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship.

In these challenging times, we appreciate Türkiye’s role as a significant global and regional…

– António Costa (@eucopresident) February 27, 2025

In Istanbul, initiating peace talks is not explicitly on the agenda. Although it is hard to imagine that diplomats from Washington and Moscow will not talk about it. But on the menu is the relationship between the two superpowers: after years of wall-to-wall, the attunement between Trump and Putin promises future normalisation of relations. Already after the meeting on Saudi soil, Rubio and Lavrov said they would restore the normal functioning of embassies and consulates and their economic and energy cooperation, particularly in the Arctic, and space. Lavrov himself, during a visit to Qatar, explained that to meet will be “high-level diplomatic officials,” who will discuss “the systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the illicit activities of the previous U.S. administration to create artificial obstacles to the work of the Russian embassy.” At this time—and since last October—Moscow does not even have an ambassador in Washington. I

n the meantime, Russia’s authoritarian president spoke at a Federal Security Service (FSB) meeting. As reported by Reuters, Putin accused “Western elites” of wanting to undermine the resumption of dialogue between Russia and the United States. “They are determined to maintain instability in the world” and “will try to disrupt or undermine the dialogue that has begun,” the Kremlin leader warned. According to Putin, “the first contacts with the new U.S. administration raise some hopes,” because with Trump “there is a mutual focus on working to restore interstate relations and gradually resolve the huge amount of systemic and strategic problems accumulated in the global architecture.”