MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Negotiators from Moscow and Kiev may meet again in Istanbul, while the European Union is considering imposing a 19th package of sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, the EU plans to block Russian oil shipments in the Baltic Sea. These stories topped Monday's newspaper headlines in Russia.
Izvestia: Russia, Ukraine may hold new round of talks in Istanbul
Istanbul 3.0 talks between Russia and Ukraine may take place as neither side has anything against the location, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large on Kiev’s War Crimes Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. According to the diplomat, ensuring Russia’s security is a key aspect of dialogue between the two sides. Against this backdrop, Washington pushes for a meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States as soon as possible, and the issues of where and when it could be held are currently being discussed. Meanwhile, the two leaders will hold another phone call later on Monday.
Istanbul hosted talks between Moscow and Kiev, their first in three years, on May 16, when delegations from Russia, the United States, Ukraine, and Turkey arrived in the city. Following a trilateral meeting between the United States, Ukraine, and Turkey, long-awaited talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators commenced.
The almost two-hour long negotiations resulted in a number of agreements, of which a prisoner swap was the most important. News came on the day of talks that Moscow and Kiev exchanged the bodies of killed servicemen, with Russia returning 909 bodies and Ukraine 34. As regards a ceasefire, the two sides agreed to outline their vision of it in detail soon.
"If a [POW] exchange occurs before a second round of talks, Moscow and Kiev will have to find new common ground," Tigran Meloyan, an analyst with the Center for Mediterranean Studies at the Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia.
Also, Ukraine requested direct talks between Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, an issue Russia "has taken note of." US leader Donald Trump, too, is seeking a summit with his Russian counterpart. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the American side wants to do it "as soon as feasible." And on May 19, the leaders of Russia and the United States will speak over the phone, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed.
Trump announced that he is going to discuss resolving the Ukraine conflict and trade issues with his Russian counterpart. After that, he said, he plans to speak to Zelensky and NATO leaders. Today’s conversation between Putin and Trump will be their third since the Republican’s second presidency. The two leaders first talked on February 12, and their latest conversation was held on March 18.
Russia feels confident in the negotiation process, despite the frequent ultimatums and threats from the West. Moscow views the current direct talks as a soft tool for reaching the goals of the special military operation. Also, Meloyan concluded, Russia demonstrates its willingness to continue solving key matters on the front line, unless the necessary results are achieved at the negotiating table.
Izvestia: EU mulls imposing 19th package of sanctions on Russia
The European Union is considering slapping a 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions even as it has not yet adopted the 17th and 18th ones, the European Parliament told Izvestia. Meanwhile, the 17th package has been agreed and is expected to be adopted on May 20. As regards the 18th one, it will be studied for loopholes and methods of circumvention, Czech MEP Tomasz Zdechovsky specified. Despite the resumption of dialogue between Russia and Ukraine toward resolving the conflict, the bloc is set to continue with its sanctions pressure on Russia, the European Commission warned. Therefore, the restrictions will not be immediately lifted even if the conflict is resolved.
The EU keeps adding restrictions on Russia, even as they damage its own economy. At its next session, the European Parliament will vote on raising tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus, French MEP Thierry Mariani, a member of the Patriots for Europe Group, told Izvestia.
"A 19th package may as well be introduced. Until the EU achieves its goals, its pressure will continue," Czech MEP Ivan David told Izvestia. The key goal now is to get Russia to renounce its goals in the conflict with Ukraine, and Brussels will remain resolved to defeat Russia as long as it believes that it can do so, he explained.
Also, the EU is mulling a full embargo on trade with Russia, an idea that, Politico reported, EU member countries borrowed from US Senator Lindsey Graham (on the Russian list of terrorists and extremists) who proposed a 500% tariff on Russian exports. The European Political Community discussed the proposal at a recent summit in Albania.
Introducing any tariffs on Russian exports by the EU looks strange and ineffective to Ivan Timofeyev, program director of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), as, over the past three years, Brussels has already established major export controls on Russia, including bans on Russian coal, steel, gold, oil and petroleum and diamond exports. And the EU has not retaliated for US tariffs as it seeks to negotiate the issue, the expert noted.
Any additional European restrictions will not inflict a major blow on the Russian economy as the EU has already introduced its toughest sanctions. Rather, any next sanctions will be of a political and symbolic character. Besides, for Brussels, they will serve as a way to show solidarity within the EU amid frictions with the United States.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta: EU looks to block Russian oil shipments in Baltic
Last month, the use of G-7 and EU tankers in Russian seaborne exports climbed to 47% from 35% in January, according to the Finland-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
While, since early 2025, the price of Urals in Baltic ports has averaged $58.5 per barrel, it sank to below $50 in April, which shows why Russian exporters sought the services of lower-cost European carriers as they could make deliveries totally legally across all foreign jurisdictions. And the EU may want to deprive Russian companies of exactly this opportunity to cut costs.
A complete ban on the transportation of Russian oil by EU tankers is quite likely to be introduced, National Energy Security Fund Director Konstantin Simonov told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. While oil and petroleum exports from Russia will decline in the short term, we will certainly adapt in the longer term, and exports will grow again, even if at a higher cost for Russian companies, the expert explained.
Nikolai Golotvin, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, agrees. He believes that any changes to the EU’s sanctions regime will depend on an array of factors, including the outcome of the negotiation process on Ukraine. He does not rule out that the bloc may intensify its restrictions on Russian crude exports and oil tankers.
Kristina Gudym, an analyst at Finam, maintained that, in the longer term, Russia will likely continue to reorient exports toward Asia, by increasing its fleet of tankers flying flags of friendly nations and developing alternative logistics routes to reduce its dependence on Western infrastructure. As a result, this will take time and resources, but the system will adapt, she emphasized.
Vedomosti: Russia receives its first foreign sovereign rating since special military operation
Russia was granted its first sovereign credit rating by a foreign rating agency since the special military operation in Ukraine after China Chengxin International Credit Rating (CCXI) issued a credit rating of BBBg+ to the country, with a stable outlook, Vedomosti learned. This rating category indicates satisfactory economic and financial stability and a similar default risk rate. The latest rating is higher than the one Russia had from CCXI before the special military operation, or BBBg-. Following the events of 2022, CCXI lowered Russia’s rating to BBg before withdrawing it altogether in the summer of 2022.
The Russian economy has gradually adapted to sanctions as it demonstrates resilience to shocks amid easing geopolitical risks, CCXI explained. The Chinese rating agency described Russia’s fiscal and monetary policy as prudent, with sufficient foreign reserves and the National Wealth Fund providing strong support to the country in servicing its foreign debt. Also, according to CCXI, government debt is very low in Russia which services it promptly and in full.
The rating from CCXI corresponds to a solid investment level and even exceeds pre-2022 ratings from international rating agencies, Nikolay Ivanov, deputy director general of Expert RA rating agency, told Vedomosti, who therefore welcomes the Chinese rating agency’s decision highly. Unlike the politically motivated moves by Western rating agencies to lower Russia’s ratings after the launch of the special military operation, the Chinese rating is based on objective macroeconomic indicators, he said. This important step confirms the stability of the Russian economy and financial system even amid Western restrictions as it shows to investors that Russian assets are safe over the long term, Ivanov added. Also, it could help bring more Chinese investment in Russia and give Russian issues access to Asian debt markets, he believes.
The return of international ratings is pleasant and useful, at least as a barometer for potential projects in financial markets, Oleg Kuzmin, a lead analyst at Renaissance Capital, agrees. While he refused to speculate on why the Chinese rating was restored, he assessed the current economic and financial stability in Russia as lower than in 2021. "We can long debate what should be a fair assessment of the absolute level of stability back then and now, but as I see it, the relative [stability] somewhat declined after deglobalization shocks that the Russian economy has faced," he argued.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Whether Russia can grow bananas
Bananas, the world’s most consumed fruit, are under threat of extinction as two-thirds of territories which cultivate them in Latin America and the Caribbean may turn unsuitable by 2080, The Guardian wrote, citing a report by Christian Aid, an international charity. Meanwhile, amid climate warming, areas of potential banana cultivation may emerge, including in Russia.
As global warming is redrawing the map of global agriculture, many foods will get more expensive or even disappear from the shelves. However, technological development and international cooperation may somewhat soften consequences for humankind, Mikhail Akim, a professor at the Higher Business School at HSE University, argues.
Climate change can worsen the quality and yield of bananas in Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica, among other traditional cultivation regions, Vyacheslav Cheglov from the Plekhanov University of Economics, warns. But consumers will not be left without bananas, experts say, as the production of this fruit may move northwards, even as that will require substantial time and resources, according to Akim.
Cheglov views India and China as promising markets for growing bananas. Larisa Tsikanova from the Institute of International Economic Relations says southern European countries, south China and the southern United States, too, could be suitable. And if the climate turns even warmer, certain areas in southern Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan, may become useful for that. While bananas are currently grown in greenhouses only in Russia, with climate warming by another 2 to 3 degrees Centigrade, open cultivation may be possible in Black Sea regions of the Caucasus, Crimea, and southern Dagestan, she argues.
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