This time it is not, as you may think, the threesome of Putin, Zelensky and Trump — although there is talk of a possible tripartite meeting in the near future to re-start negotiations in the hope of finding a means to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
But I wouldn’t pin too much hope on the mere fact that Putin has signaled his “willingness” to engage in talks. As it turns out, according to his foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, the first step in that direction would merely be exploratory, involving teams of delegates rather than the leaders themselves, and designed to set out their respective positions — but not to formulate any definitive agreements.
So, since all of the Kremlin mouthpieces — from Vladimir Putin himself to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and everyone in between — continue to stress that nothing less than total capitulation on Ukraine’s part will satisfy them; and since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is determined not to surrender his beloved country to the marauding Russian hordes; any meeting in the near future will, once again, likely turn out to be much ado about nothing.
But what I am concerned about today is the possibility of a different three-way meeting being talked about in conjunction with the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, China, in mid-November.
According to the same Yuri Ushakov, preparations are already underway for a meeting on the sidelines of the summit among China’s Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and — to round out the triumvirate of autocrats — our very own Donald Trump.
Shortly after Putin’s most recent meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, Ushakov announced:
“Our Chinese friends, who are hosting the APEC summit, will deal or rather are already dealing with its [the trilateral meeting’s] preparation. And if circumstances are favourable, they, our Chinese friends, will of course include this meeting in the programme of events in Shenzhen.” [Ukrainska Pravda, October 21, 2026, citing European Pravda and Russian news agency Interfax.]
According to Ushakov, this is still tentative and awaiting confirmation from all parties; and neither has there been any indication of what sort of agenda is under consideration. It could be anything . . . and that is what is so worrisome. When those three — who, for some reason, call to my mind the Sith Triumvirate from Star Wars — put their heads together, you can be certain they’re not swapping recipes for pelmeni or moo shu pork.
But it’s a little early to fret about something that is still three weeks away, and may never even take place. Between now and then, Im sure we’ll have plenty of other issues to occupy us: a midterm election, a couple of wars, the state of the French school system, and the cost of food and fuel, to name just a few.
In the meantime, I’ll simply try to keep on breathing, enjoying the lovely fall weather (my favorite season), and keeping in touch with my readers.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
10/26/26
