WASHINGTON, June 2. /TASS/. Russia clinched a tactical victory by managing to start talks with Ukraine without pausing military operations, The New York Times reported.
"The meetings have served as a tactical win for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who managed to start the talks without first agreeing to the ceasefire that Ukraine and almost all of its Western backers had sought as a precondition for negotiations," the newspaper said.
As for the progress of the talks in Turkey on Monday, expectations were low, according to the report. Neither Russia nor Ukraine was anticipated to present terms that are acceptable to the other side.
The Russia-Ukraine meeting in Istanbul lasted just over an hour, with the delegations communicating in Russian. The sides exchanged documents with their vision of settling the conflict. The head of the Russian team, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said Russia’s memorandum that it gave to Ukraine consists of two parts.