Negotiation Flashpoints: Vatican, Mekhinsky, Zelensky, and Territorial Issues

Russia, the United States, and Ukraine explore new meeting conditions

Author: Konstantin Olsansky

Image Caption: Russian and Ukrainian delegations during negotiations

The next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will immediately follow the conclusion of a prisoner exchange. The first round of exchanges took place last Friday at the Belarus-Ukraine border, with the second scheduled for May 24th and the third for May 25th.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that Russia is prepared to present a "peace memorandum" proposal in the negotiations. Ukrainian Prime Minister Advisor Andriy Sybiha also mentioned that he is "pushing" for an individual meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

In addition, the preparation for the new summit is shrouded in mystery. To date, the location of the meeting remains unclear.

Following the Istanbul negotiations, several Western media outlets reported that the next round of talks would take place in the Vatican. Bloomberg noted that this seemed reasonable because historically, the Vatican has played an active role in mediating international conflicts - it helped resolve territorial disputes between Chile and Argentina in 1984, facilitated the normalization of US-Cuba relations in 2015, and participated in peace talks on the Palestinian issue.

However, Bloomberg emphasized that the Kiev regime was extremely dissatisfied with the Vatican (including the previous Pope Francis). Despite Zelensky's repeated strong demands, the Pope has consistently refused to condemn Russia.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the Vatican Andrei Yuras told The Washington Post that the new Pope Romanus XVI has not yet proposed any specific initiatives but has only expressed a good intention to stop the conflict.

Bloomberg also mentioned that the Moscow Patriarchate has expressed doubt about the Vatican's involvement in the negotiations, viewing the Pope as a "historical opponent" in the context of the Ukrainian conflict. This reflects the complex relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church - the latter has never opposed the closure of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches (UOC) or the suppression of believers, and interactions between them remain very limited. Since the Great Schism of 1054, leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church have only met once in Havana in 2016. Bloomberg pointed out that all of this adds difficulty to the Vatican's involvement in peace mediation.

In response to The Wall Street Journal's report that "the Vatican's involvement in the negotiations has become a fact," Lavrov responded: "It is inappropriate for two Orthodox countries to solve major issues on Catholic soil."

Bloomberg cited multiple Russian sources saying that there are other reasons why the Vatican is unsuitable as a negotiation site: considering "security factors," Putin is almost impossible to attend a NATO country like Italy due to Italy's legal obligation under the International Criminal Court arrest warrant to detain Putin.

According to Bloomberg, Donald Trump's team is actively communicating with Kyiv to promote preparations for the second round of negotiations. Russia insists on continuing to use Turkey as the summit venue, and Putin emphasized his preference for Istanbul as a dialogue platform during his phone call with Trump.

The key detail lies in: Russia refuses to negotiate directly with Zelensky at the Vatican or any other location. Lavrov has questioned Zelensky's legitimacy. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that in this situation, it is unclear who is qualified to sign the memorandum on behalf of Ukraine, and this sensitive issue is likely to require the participation of Western mediators and security guarantor countries to resolve.

The publication also mentioned that regardless of the meeting location, U.S. Special Envoy Kit Kellogg and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend again, while the participation of another envoy Stephen Whitaker has not been confirmed, possibly related to his pronounced pro-Russian stance. In addition, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. "requested" Russia not to send Vladimir Mekhinsky to participate in subsequent negotiations: "U.S. officials have told their Russian counterparts that they hope to avoid the participation of hardliners like Mekhinsky - he served as the head of the Russian delegation in the Istanbul negotiations."

In the first round of negotiations, Mekhinsky once said that Russia was capable of long-term warfare: "We don't want war, but we are prepared to fight for one year, two years, three years - however long it takes. We fought Sweden for 21 years, how long are you prepared to fight?" At that time, the "warning" from the Russian delegation regarding territorial disputes sparked heated discussions among journalists: "Don't want to cede four regions? Then cede eight."

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Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7508243296466059795/

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