Russia Sends a Junior Delegation to Istanbul

As expected, Vladimir Putin did not go to Istanbul on Thursday after offering to have direct talks with Ukraine to end the war. Instead, he sent a junior team to represent him to meet with the Ukrainians.

While Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Turkey with a senior team that included his Foreign Minister, Rustem Umerov, who would lead the negotiations on Ukraine’s behalf, the Russian delegation will be led by an aide of Putin, Vladimir Medinsky.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told reporters in Antalya, Turkey, where he was attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting, that “We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow. And frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin.”

Even though Zelenskyy accused Putin of not making a serious effort in negotiating peace and sending a low-level negotiating team was a “theatre-prop”, he still decided to send his team to Istanbul for the negotiations to continue to show the United States that he is not the impediment to peace.

It’s obvious, Putin is stalling for time as he ramps up a summer offensive to try to take more Ukrainian land while pretending he is open to peace negotiations.

Now is the perfect time for both Europe and the United States to impose tougher sanctions on Russia. Now is the time for more Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 2548 and pass the “Sanctioning of Russia Act of 2025” bill in both houses of Congress and send it to President Trump for his signature.

Putin will only get serious about peace when he starts losing his economy and the war.