It’s the match of the century, and it shows no sign of ending in the foreseeable future. So let’s see if we can recap what’s happened thus far.

It began with presidential envoy Steve Witkoff being ambushed in St. Petersburg in April, when he walked — alone, and without so much as an interpreter of his own — into a meeting with Putin, three seasoned Russian politicians, and their interpreter.

Then a presidential meeting was scheduled in Istanbul for May 15-16. Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, was ready; but Vladimir Putin was a no-show — despite Donald Trump’s stated willingness to join the discussion if Putin would do the same. In his place, Putin sent a lower-level delegation; Zelensky bowed out and met instead with Turkish President Erdogan; and once again . . . nothing happened.

But Putin magnanimously agreed to a one-on-one phone call with Trump on the following Monday, May 19th. This one actually did take place — Trump from the White House, Putin from somewhere along the Black Sea coast at the lovely resort of Sochi.

After two hours of discussing who-knows-what, all that was agreed was an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine . . . a good thing in and of itself, but hardly the stuff of peace negotiations. Because all the while, the deadly attacks from the Russian side have continued unabated, and peace is no closer than it was three years ago.

Among much name-calling, sanction-threatening, and a yet-unfulfilled promise from Putin to submit a memorandum of his demands for further discussion, the newly-installed Pope Leo XIV even offered the Vatican as the site for negotiations. Not surprisingly, Putin declined the offer, choosing instead to suggest another try at a meeting in Istanbul on June 2nd.

But will Putin be there?

Nope. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:

“Our delegation, led by Vladimir Medinsky, is ready to present a memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and provide the necessary explanations during a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, June 2” . . . said memorandum to cover “all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis.” [RFE/RL, May 29, 2025.]

Medinsky, a former minister of culture, led Russia’s team at the May 16th meeting that proved to be such a waste of time and money.

Zelensky has already submitted Kyiv’s memorandum of talking points, and has demanded that Putin submit his memorandum in advance of the meeting . . . but to no avail.

And now Putin proposes simply to repeat the dog-and-pony show, again sending a mid-level delegation to set forth the same litany of outrageous, one-sided demands, thereby gaining more time to continue advancing his devastating war against Ukraine . . . and ultimately the rest of the former Soviet Bloc.

S.S.D.D.

*. *. *

How long this game of Putin’s will continue depends entirely on how long the patience of the rest of the world’s leaders holds out. Europe is uniting in developing broader sanctions — as well as arming itself, and Ukraine, against further incursions. Even Donald Trump is showing signs of impatience, though he has yet to follow through on any of his threats.

June 2nd is only three days away. I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/30/25