0612GMT//Russia news
PEACE TALKS: So-called peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul failed on Thursday but are now slated to take place on Friday.
Vladimir Putin sent a "peace negotiating" team to Istanbul on Thursday headed by Vladimir Medinsky. The team also contained the head of Russia's GRU military intelligence unit and a Russian military commander involved in the siege of Mariupol in 2022. (COMMENT: This was a team sent to Istnabul with a simple mission: play for time and humiliate Ukraine. Putin had no intention of actually negotiating anything in Istanbul. Instead, he wanted to score domestic points by presenting these negotiations as an extension of peace talks that broke down in 2022. In 2022, Medinsky also led the Russian "peace negotiating" team.)
Russian media promoted the failed peace talks in Istanbul as the "political event of the year", promising wall-to-wall coverage and a livestream. According to Russian media, the peace talks were Putin's initiative and a continuation of the collapsed 2022 talks. (NOTE: The message in the Russian media was very much that Ukraine had deliberately collapsed the talks, whereas Putin wanted peace.)
There were no negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine accused Russia of belittling the talks because Putin had not travelled to Istanbul, and its negotiating team didn't turn up. (COMMENT: This was a game of brinkmanship that Russia won, hands down. It called Ukraine's bluff, sent a "peace negotiating team" to Istanbul to wait for Ukraine framed around the failed talks of 2022 and challenged Ukraine to do the same. Volodymyr Zelensky, who had flown to Anakara to meet with Turkish Pres. Tayyip Recep Erdogan was left hanging around, frustrated that Putin wasn't flying to Istanbul to talk to him. Putin never had any intention of travelling to Istanbul. He wanted to score points with the Russian population by framing himself as the jilted "Peacemaker". Remember the portrait of Tsar Alexander III, carefully positioned during a video tour of Putin's Kremlin apartment earlier this month? That was likely part of the plan. Alexander III was known as the "Peacemaker" Tsar.
Incredibly, Donald Trump appeared to give Vladimir Putin an excuse for not appearing in Istanbul to meet with Zelensky for peace talks. He told the media that he understood why Putin had not travelled "because why would he if I'm not going to be there?" (COMMENT: This was played heavily in the Russian media. It helped Russian media frame the collapsed peace talks as Putin's initiative that Zelensky had undermined.)
MARIUPOL SEIGE GENERAL PROMOTED: Putin sacked General Oleg Salyukov as commander of Russia's ground forces on Thursday, less than a week after he had taken a salute at Russia's Victory Day parade in Moscow. Salyukov is being shunted to become a deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, or the bagman for Sergei Shoigu, Russia's former defence minister. He was replaced by General Andrei Mordvichev who commanded Russian soldiers during the siege of Mariupol in Ukraine in 2022. (COMMENT: Again, this is important signalling. This sacking was not really about personnel but about Putin showing Ukraine and the West that he is still focused on the performance of his army. Also, it is no coincidence that Putin has promoted a general involved in the siege of Mariupol. Needling Ukraine, again.)
STALIN STATUE: The Moscow Metro unveiled a statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin at the Taganskaya station. (COMMENT: The statue of Stalin, positioned in an adoring crowd and underneath a silhouette bust of Vladimir Lenin, isn't entirely new. It is a replica of a statue that was taken down in 1966. Then, the Soviet Union was reassessing the "greatness" of Stalin and was pulling down his statues and portraits. It's a very different scenario today, with the Kremlin pushing to resurrect his image. Again, timing is important. Stalin engineered a deliberate famine in Ukraine in the 1930s to try to kill off the Ukrainian population. His statue was resurrected in central Moscow on the day of the so-called Russia-Ukraine "peace talks".)
ARGENTINA RESIDENCY CHANGES: Argentina plans to reform its citizenship laws to stop an influx of Russians. The new rules will scrap the right to permanent citizenship for parents of babies born in Argentina. (NOTE: Heavily pregnant Russian women had been flying into Argentina every day to give birth. Under the current rules, parents of babies born in Argentina earned residency rights. This is now being changed. Russians have been able to stay in Argentina for 90 days without a visa, making it a favourite destination to give birth. And an Argentinian passport is useful – not least because it gives bearers the right to travel to the EU. Data from Argentina said that around 11,000 Russians have been given residency permits since 2022, when the Kremlin invaded Ukraine.)
PUTIN THE ACADEMIC: Putin became the head of the board of trustees at the Russian Academy of Sciences on Thursday. (COMMENT: This is one of Russia's most important academic institutions and propaganda powerhouse for the Kremlin. The prospect of the Kremlin taking control of RAS was first talked up a year ago.)