Regardless of an invite from President Volodymyr Zelensky to fulfill head to head in Istanbul, President Vladimir Putin was a no-show in Turkey, sending as an alternative an aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to move the Russian delegation in peace talks.
Medinsky headed the final and solely different direct talks between the 2 sides in Istanbul held in the course of the early days of the invasion in March–April 2022.
Though not in authorities, Medinsky has remained near the Russian president. He’s additionally among the many ideologues of "Ruskiy Mir," or "Russian World," an idea that makes an attempt to unify all Russian-speaking and ethnically Russian individuals in a single shared house, no matter present borders. Russia makes use of the idea to justify its aggression in opposition to its neighbors.
Medinsky, born in Ukraine's Cherkasy Oblast, rose by the political ranks from a member of the ruling United Russia Occasion to Putin aide, finally turning into a trusted confidant in peace talks with Ukraine.
"(Medinsky) is a loyal servant," Scott Luсas, a political scientist and professor of American Research and Worldwide Politics at College School Dublin's Clinton Institute, advised the Kyiv Impartial. "That's his most precious asset."
Books, historical past, propaganda
Medinsky, who’s below U.S. and Canadian sanctions for spreading disinformation about Russia's aggression in opposition to Ukraine, served because the Russian tradition minister from 2012 to 2020.
He additionally holds doctoral levels in political science and historical past and is the writer of a number of nonfiction books and college textbooks. His work is understood to comprise Russian propaganda narratives and has been characterised as pseudo-scientific.
"Many scientists and teachers in Russia are literally engaged solely in propaganda and falsification," mentioned Serhii Zhukov, an analyst on the Kyiv-based Heart for Strategic Communications and Info Safety. However with official educational titles, their "phrases have weight (in Russia)."
And "for Medinsky, historical past is just not a science, however a software for educating ideologically-driven residents," Zhukov mentioned.
One of many final books Medinsky labored on was a historical past textbook for tenth and eleventh graders. Since 2023, Russian youngsters, in addition to Ukrainians dwelling within the Russian-occupied territories, have been utilizing the textbook, which is aligned with Russian propaganda narratives about Ukrainian historical past.
In Medinsky's textbook, the EuroMaidan Revolution, which started in response to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to signal the long-awaited Affiliation Settlement with the European Union, is falsely portrayed as a "navy coup."
"Medinsky has been monopolizing and controlling the method of writing curricula and college textbooks for 10 years."
Following the textbook's launch, Medinsky and his co-author, Anatoly Torkunov, the top of the Russian Institute of Worldwide Relations had been served notices of suspicion in absentia by Ukraine's Safety Providers. The 2 had been accused of encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, in addition to justification and glorification of Russia's aggression in opposition to Ukraine.
"Medinsky has been monopolizing and controlling the method of writing curricula and college textbooks for 10 years," Zhukov mentioned, including that he’s additionally accountable for faculty programs akin to Russian navy historical past.
"This can be a one who is basically accountable in Russia for the ideological processing and indoctrination of kids."
Lucas famous that Medinsky is able to do any job the Kremlin assigns him, from engaged on textbooks to peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey.
"He (Medinsky) is nearly a minister and not using a portfolio. He doesn't have a particular process (within the authorities), however he’s a common particular person readily available to hold out (duties), as a result of he’s a protected pair of fingers for Putin," Lucas advised the Kyiv Impartial.
For the reason that full-scale invasion started, Medinsky has been on a brand new mission: to steer negotiations with Ukraine.
Medinsky's 'peace' efforts
Medinsky, born within the metropolis of Smila in central Ukraine, claimed in an interview with RBC Russia in 2023 — after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine — that he had no hatred for Ukrainians and that Russia had no battle with Ukraine.
Medinsky additionally claimed on his Telegram channel in March 2022, additionally after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, that Ukraine was allegedly making ready an offensive in Donbas, and that Russia's bloodbath of civilians within the Kyiv suburb of Bucha was staged by the Ukrainian authorities. Together with these statements, Medinsky claimed in that Russia wished peace.
After it grew to become recognized that Putin wouldn’t go to Istanbul, the Russian delegation finally assembled a bunch of people who didn't embody any top-level officers, together with Medinsky. President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted, saying Moscow had dispatched a "sham delegation."
The earlier assembly between the Ukrainian and Russian sides in Istanbul in 2022 led to a impasse, throughout which Moscow reportedly demanded that Kyiv depart Crimea below Russian occupation and abandon its aspirations to hitch NATO. Historical past is now repeating itself, however with extra vertiginous turns.
"Their PR might be: We’re those who genuinely negotiated in 2022, and that is the person (Medinsky) who was a part of that real negotiation," Lucas mentioned. "And look! He's attempting three years later to get the deal as a result of it was Ukraine that walked away from them."
The professional added that, because the 2022 conferences, Russia has tried to painting itself in these talks as a prepared negotiator and a sufferer of the West's bullying.
As in 2022, the talks in Istanbul on Might 16 didn’t end in a ceasefire settlement.
Russia reportedly made "unrealistic" calls for that go "far past something ever mentioned," based on Sky Information. A few of these calls for embody the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from their very own territory as a situation for a ceasefire, a Ukrainian diplomat advised Sky Information.
After the talks on Might 16, Medinsky mentioned the Russian delegation "was happy with the outcome and was able to proceed contacts," in an obvious try and shift accountability for the following transfer to Ukraine and the West.
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The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova