Russia's Foreign Ministry posted today (May 15th) saying, "Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order to appoint the Russian delegation members for negotiations with Ukraine."
The delegation members include:
• Vladimir Medinsky (Presidential Adviser)
• Mikhail Galuzin (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs)
• Igor Kostyukov (Director of Russia's Military Intelligence)
• Alexander Fomin (Deputy Minister of Defense)"
Comment: This list shows that Putin himself will not personally go to Istanbul for negotiations. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he would not negotiate with any Russian representatives other than Putin. Since Putin is not going, a representative from the United States said that Trump will also not go to Turkey to participate in direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.
From the list of delegates announced by the Russian side, the personnel composition takes into account political, diplomatic, and military levels, striving to comprehensively address various complex issues in the negotiations.
It is reasonable for Putin not to personally participate in the negotiations. From the perspective of negotiation strategy, if the highest leader directly participates in the negotiations and they fail, it may cause serious political consequences, damaging the national image and the prestige of the leader, and also bring great obstacles to subsequent diplomatic efforts. Sending a delegation for preliminary negotiations can reduce this risk to some extent. If the negotiations are successful, the highest leader can intervene at an appropriate time to promote the final results; if the negotiations are obstructed, it will not put the highest leader in a deadlock, leaving room for maneuver and facilitating subsequent adjustments to continue to advance the negotiation process.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832140759926083/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author only.