Latest news with #peaceTreaty
NHK
12 hours ago
- Politics
- NHK
Putin pressures Ukraine to accept memorandum for peace treaty
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has pressured Ukraine to promptly accept Moscow's memorandum on a potential peace treaty. Putin spoke to media representatives in St. Petersburg on Thursday. He referred to the direct negotiations with Ukraine that took place in May and June in Istanbul. Putin said: "If they don't reach an agreement, the situation may change for the worse for them. There is no need to drag it out." The two countries exchanged memorandums during the negotiations. Russia is seeking the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the four regions in Ukraine's east and south that Moscow claims it annexed. Russia is also calling for Ukraine's neutrality. Ukraine has dismissed the proposals, saying Russia only repeated its previous assertions. Russia's defense ministry said on Thursday that Russian troops had "liberated" a village in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Russia forces have repeatedly launched large-scale drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, while trying to expand the areas under their control in Ukraine's east and south.
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Armenian prime minister set for ‘historic' Turkiye visit
ISTANBUL: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is set to make a rare visit to arch-foe Turkiye on Friday, in what Yerevan has described as a 'historic' step toward regional peace. Armenia and Turkiye have never established formal diplomatic ties, and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. Relations are strained over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire — atrocities Yerevan says amount to genocide. Turkiye rejects the label. Ankara has also backed its close ally, Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in its long-running conflict with Armenia. Pashinyan is visiting Turkiye at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters. 'This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkiye at this level. All regional issues will be discussed,' he said. 'The risks of war (with Azerbaijan) are currently minimal, and we must work to neutralize them. Pashinyan's visit to Turkiye is a step in that direction.' An Armenian foreign ministry official told AFP the two leaders will discuss efforts to sign a comprehensive peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the regional fallout from the Iran-Israel conflict. On Thursday — a day before Pashinyan's visit — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Turkiye for talks with Erdogan and praised Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as 'a significant factor not only regionally but also globally.' Erdogan repeated his backing for 'the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.' Baku and Yerevan agreed on the text of a peace deal in March, but Baku has since outlined a host of demands — including changes to Armenia's constitution — before it will sign the document. Pashinyan has actively sought to normalize relations with both Baku and Ankara. Earlier this year, he announced Armenia would halt its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide — a major concession to Turkiye that sparked widespread criticism at home. Pashinyan has visited Turkiye only once before, for Erdogan's inauguration in 2023. At the time he was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the Turkish president on his re-election. Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalization process, a year after Armenia's defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over then-disputed Karabakh region. In 2022, Turkiye and Armenia resumed commercial flights after a two-year pause. A previous attempt to normalize relations — a 2009 accord to open the border — was never ratified by Armenia and was abandoned in 2018.
Russia Today
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
The West prevented Ukraine from reaching peace in 2022
The Ukraine conflict, now dragging on for more than three years, could have ended within a week if Kiev hadn't listened to its Western backers, Russia's top negotiator and presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky has said. Speaking to RT's Rick Sanchez on his show Sanchez Effect, Medinsky argued Ukraine had a chance to secure a deal on more favorable terms had it not walked away from negotiations in 2022. 'I'm going to tell you something, Rick, that I've probably never said publicly. If Ukraine had wanted it, had been ready, and had been making its own decisions, we could have signed a peace treaty during the first meeting on February 28, 2022. And the terms would have been less harsh than what we're offering today,' he said. Medinsky stated that Ukrainian officials initially accepted Russia's terms but reversed course after consulting with the US and UK. According to him, Ukrainian negotiators told the Russian side: 'Our foreign partners don't support the agreement and will not guarantee aid or security if we sign it.''So we'll fight until either you defeat us or we defeat you,' the Ukrainian delegation reportedly said, according to Medinsky. David Arakhamia, who led the Ukrainian negotiating team during the 2022 Istanbul talks, later confirmed that then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had urged Kiev not to sign a deal with Russia. However, he denied that Johnson's opinion had influenced Ukraine's decision-making. Johnson has also denied pressuring Kiev. The Ukrainian side became even 'less independent' when direct talks resumed in Istanbul last month, Medinsky said, arguing that Kiev's European allies were pushing it to act against its own interests. Russia has demanded that Ukraine recognize its new borders, abandon plans to join NATO, and guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking minority. President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine and the West must address 'the root causes' of the conflict before any ceasefire can be reached.
South China Morning Post
30-05-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Putin meets Abe's widow, reflects on ex-PM's ‘dream' to strike Russia-Japan peace treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to former prime minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, saying he knew the slain Japanese leader had dreamed of finally concluding a post-second world war peace treaty. Advertisement No treaty was ever signed as the two countries could not resolve a dispute over the then-Soviet Union's seizure at the end of the war of four islands in the Southern Kuril chain, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Russian media said Abe and Putin met altogether 27 times during the nearly nine years the Japanese leader was in office. Abe left office in 2020 and was assassinated two years later while making an election campaign speech. 'I know that his dream – and he truly strived to achieve this – was to conclude a peace treaty between our two countries. The situation is different now,' the Russian leader said. Putin, whose comments to Abe's widow in the Kremlin were reported by Russian news agencies, also said fulfilling that dream was not possible in the current international situation given the conflict in Ukraine Advertisement 'Your husband did a great deal for the development of Russian-Japanese relations. We had very good personal relations,' Putin was quoted as telling Akie Abe.
Reuters
29-05-2025
- General
- Reuters
Russia's Putin praises Abe, says late Japanese PM wanted peace treaty
May 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, saying he knew the slain Japanese leader had dreamt of finally concluding a post-World War Two peace treaty. No treaty was ever signed as the two countries could not resolve a dispute over the then-Soviet Union's seizure at the end of the war of four islands in the Southern Kuril chain, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Russian media said Abe and Putin met altogether 27 times during the nearly nine years the Japanese leader was in office. Abe left office in 2020 and was assassinated two years later while making an election campaign speech. "I know that his dream - and he truly strived to achieve this - was to conclude a peace treaty between our two countries. The situation is different now," the Russian leader said. Putin, whose comments to Abe's widow in the Kremlin were reported by Russian news agencies, also said fulfilling that dream was not possible in the current international situation given the conflict in Ukraine. "Your husband did a great deal for the development of Russian-Japanese relations. We had very good personal relations," Putin was quoted as telling Akie Abe. Russia's relations with Japan have been strained by Tokyo's support for sanctions imposed by Ukraine's Western allies over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. All negotiations on clinching a peace treaty have been suspended. Akie Abe told Putin, according to the agencies, that her husband had wanted to meet Putin even after the start of the Ukraine conflict "but unfortunately circumstances were such that he was no longer able to meet you. His life was cut short."
