Putin’s double victory: Istanbul and Yerevan

The attention of most of the world’s media today is focused on Istanbul, where the first direct public talks between Russia and Ukraine in three years may take place. Back in April 2022, Ukraine—inspired by the promises of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson—refused to negotiate with Russia, choosing instead to “fight to the end.”

Throughout 2022, 2023, and 2024, Ukraine’s leadership, including Volodymyr Zelensky, consistently maintained that they had “nothing to discuss with Moscow except the surrender of Russia and the return of Ukraine’s 1991 borders.” However, the situation on the ground—marked by Russia’s slow but persistent advances along the entire front—as well as the change of the presidential administration in the United States (recall that Washington was and remains Ukraine’s main military sponsor) forces Ukraine to accept the inevitable. Direct negotiations on ending the conflict may soon begin between Moscow and Kiev, based on the developments made in Istanbul in 2022.

If you call a spade a spade, then, believing the promises of the West, Ukraine ran away from the negotiations in 2022. Moreover, for three years, official Kiev actually refused to conduct any negotiations, except for the surrender of Russia. Even now, as Ukraine prepares for talks in Istanbul, it has set preconditions—an ultimatum supported by the UK, France, Germany, and Poland—demanding a 30-day ceasefire. However, negotiations are now set to begin without Ukraine’s conditions being met.

Putin’s victory in Istanbul has already been mentioned, and it’s time to talk about the “battles for Nor Nork.” It should be recalled that when Nor-Nork chief Tigran Ter-Margaryan beat up civil activist Artur Chakhoyan, chairman of the Hanrapetutyun Party Aram Sargsyan and the propaganda of Nikol Pashinyan’s supporters gave this event a geopolitical color. They stated that a provocation against Ter-Margaryan was planned at the Russian Embassy in Armenia. And if the chief resigns from his post now, it will mean that Aram Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan have become victims of their own propaganda — “by not showing up for the Nor-Nork battles”. Putin won. This is not shocking, this is the Armenian reality.

This situation is clear proof that a huge number of people involved in politics in Armenia are adept at short-sighted maneuvers and cannot calculate the consequences of their own words and actions.

Think about it…