
May 16, 2025
What Ukraine and Russia are Negotiating in Turkey
Direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul this week – the first since March 2022 – have got off to a shaky start. Putin’s no-show meant President Zelenskyy remained in Ankara on Thursday, but he plans to send a delegation to Istanbul led by his Defense Minister. Russia’s unwillingness to send a more senior delegation suggests they are not taking the talks seriously, and there are few signs they have dropped their maximalist war demands and would be ready to make a settlement with Ukraine that ensures a sustainable peace. With their efforts so far having failed to yield significant results, President Trump has expressed his frustration with both Kyiv and Moscow and personally urged Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy to meet directly.
To discuss this round of talks and the prospects for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, we’re very pleased to have Sam Charap and Sergey Radchenko with us on the podcast.
Sam Charap is distinguished chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy and a senior political scientist at RAND.
Sergey Radchenko is the Wilson E. Schmidt distinguished professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
More from CNAS
-
Transatlantic Security / Energy, Economics & Security
LISTEN: Why It’s So Hard to Go After Russia’s Oil RevenueEmily Kilcrease, senior fellow and director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, joins the show to talk about secondary ta...
By Emily Kilcrease
-
Russia's Lavrov: Security Talks without Moscow a "Path to Nowhere" | CNN
Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security, joins CNN to explain about the difficulties of negotiations are not territ...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
-
Our Experts Put the Kibosh on Hopes for Ukraine Peace Anytime Soon
There has been a diplomatic flurry around Ukraine in recent days, yet the theme of progress has been hollow words and flip-flopping. Is the White House serious about peace, or...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
-
Trump and Putin Could Be Pursuing a WW1 German-Style Neutral State for Ukraine | Jim Townsend
Donald Trump needs to decide whether he wants Ukraine to be a "frontline for European security" or a "buffer zone" whereby the country would have no military power once a ceas...
By Jim Townsend