US and Russian officials held talks at the Russian consulate in Istanbul on Thursday that focused on normalizing diplomatic relations.
The meeting marked the second round of normalization talks since the first was held in Istanbul on February 27. According to Russia’s TASS news agency, the talks lasted about five and a half hours.
The Russian delegation was headed by Alexander Darchiev, the Russian ambassador to the US, who said after the meeting that good progress was made toward normalizing the work of the two countries’ diplomatic facilities.
Sonata Coulter, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Russia and Central Europe, led the US delegation. The State Department described the talks as “constructive” and said the two sides “exchanged notes to finalize an understanding to ensure the stability of diplomatic banking for Russian and US bilateral missions.”
Also on Thursday, the US and Russia conducted a prisoner swap that involved Moscow freeing Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American citizen who was serving a 12-year sentence for allegations that she was raising money to arm Ukraine, which appeared to be based on a donation she made to a US-based Ukraine aid group.
In exchange for Karelina, the US released Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at the behest of the US over allegations that he was exporting microelectronics to companies manufacturing weapons for Russia.
While the US and Russia appear to be making progress on diplomatic relations, a ceasefire in Ukraine remains elusive as fighting continues to rage despite US-mediated talks.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on Thursday that there would be no serious changes to US-Russia relations without a Ukraine ceasefire. “I think that President Trump has been very clear that there is one thing on the table with Russia, which is the ceasefire, [and] that there is no other dynamic that is going to be addressed or facilitated until that is dealt with,” she said.
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/10/7506969/
These executions not only show that we are dealing with beasts. They also demonstrate that the Russian army is a gathering of people without morale or rationale. They lack basic discipline, as disciplined armies do not execute prisoners of war – it goes against military logic
Not uncommon in war.
At 'Nam, it took three men to escort a prisoner to HQ. If more than a couple of NVC were captured, the platoon leader made a choice of which were going to HQ and which were getting a bullet to the head.
Manpower was important. So it goes.
So you're defending executions of POW's by saying it's "not uncommon in war"
Disgusting
It isn't uncommon. It's also not uncommon from gunning down personnel who are attempting to surrender. It's part of WAR
Well I know you're a fascist
Indeed. In the comment section of a YouTube video on brutal ground-pounds in MMA, many asked why a fighter continues to pummel an opponent evidently unresponsive and defenseless. Those experienced in combat sports explained that, by combination of training and adrenaline, it is reflex to mindlessly unleash fury when on the advantage; to not hold back or pause to consider if continuation is warranted.
By extension, in war zones where emotion and primal impulse dominate the rational mind, it is unremarkable that higher-order thought processes like compassion and honor (all the tenets of bushido if we want a list) should vanish under fear, anger, hatred, revenge, and self-preservation.
Rogue state Ukraine is a terrorist state. Fascists do not deserve any human rights. Russia however treats Ukrainian POWs humanly.
Of course, uneducated monolithic Russophobes have no ability to rationally consider reality.
Some from former Prussian lands are acting up to their reputation for lack of IQ!
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/10/7506969/
These executions not only show that we are dealing with beasts. They also demonstrate that the Russian army is a gathering of people without morale or rationale. They lack basic discipline, as disciplined armies do not execute prisoners of war – it goes against military logic
"Trump has been very clear that there is one thing on the table with Russia, which is the ceasefire"
Trump is trying too hard to save Kiev neo-Nazi regime from unavoidable defeat as if his unconditional support of Zionism isn't bad enough for his reputation. It would be much to his own advantage if he leaves this problem to Europeans. Of course, it is rather too late now, but still there are no need to get deeper in this shit. More he is involved in Ukraine, worse would be the consequences.
You are spreading pro-Russian propaganda with abstruse views of Ukraine as the Soviet enemy, because, for example, you describe the radical, extreme nationalists around Bandera and the OUN as neo-fascists. Bandera, for example, fought for a Ukrainian state in the USSR and Poland, fought against the Germans from 1943, and was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany from 1944, where the KGB murdered him in Munich in 1959. Your absurd opinion of nationalists leads you to describe virtually all of Europe as neo-fascists. In no way am I hiding the crimes committed by members of the OUN against Poles, Jews, etc.
https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/historical_materials/1920326/ Ukrainian Nazism today: origin and ideological and political typology
https://cejiss.org/looking-for-stepan-bandera-the-myth-of-ukrainian-nationalism-and-the-russian-special-operation
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/bandera-mythologies-and-their-traps-for-ukraine/
https://eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/digital-resources/articles/8044,Stepan-Bandera-leader-of-the-Organisation-of-Ukrainian-Nationalists.html
https://www.dw.com/en/stepan-bandera-ukrainian-hero-or-nazi-collaborator/a-61842720
https://genevasolutions.news/ukraine-stories/who-was-stepan-bandera-ukraine-s-controversial-nationalist-figure
https://www.inalco.fr/en/memory-and-national-sentiment-ukraine
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/nationalist-memory-narratives-and-the-politics-of-history-in-ukraine-since-the-1990s/6436C3912CD497A88C3E937192008925 "From 1939 to 1941, the OUN split into two parts. One, the OUN-b, was headed by Stepan Bandera, who stopped cooperating with the Nazis in July 1941 and renewed it in 1944. Colonel Andrii Melnyk commanded OUN-m. This faction collaborated with the Nazis to end the Second World War. In 1943, the OUN-b created a partisan formation – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( UPA) – aimed at combating Soviet and Polish partisans in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia and protecting civilians from Nazi Ostarbeiter policy."
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2624&context=graddis “Glory to the Heroes!” The Commemoration of the OUN and UPA in the Ukrainian Diaspora by Liam John Hilferty
https://books.openedition.org/ceup/545?lang=en Heroes and Villains, Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine by David R. Marples, Chapter 3. The OUN, 1929-43
Don't invent stories. Bandera never fought against Germans. Germans isolated him because he was made to believe Hitler would allow a certain Ukrainian autonomy within The Reich. Germans promised a lot to everyone. They used him and Ukrainians the same as Americans do it now.
Modern Ukrainian neo-Nazism is a real thing. If you know nothing about their attempt of ethnic cleansing in Donbass, you can learn about it from Ukrainian sources the same as from Russian. Kiev regime failed to accomplish it because Russia didn't allowed.
Besides, there is a great difference between west Ukrainians who between WW I and WW II were under occupation of fascist Poland and before that were a part of Austrian empire, and east Ukrainians who centuries were under rule of Moscow and only in 1991 got their independence (if one may call it independence).
Yes he did later in the war
MUH ETHNIK CLENSING REEEEEEEEEE
We were not fascist
There is little difference between east and west ukraine, that is a neo fascistic batshit statement which seeks to divide and conquer
And so Russian neo nazism is nonexistant?
THANK you. It is always nice to see knowledge people debunk the revisionist-history bulls**t that, much to my amazement, continues to appear on these forums despite this website providing the evidence against revisionist propagandists for DECADES now.
That the Ukrainian side is rife with nationalist neo-Nazi extremists is beyond doubt at this point; certain Commenters' cognitive dissonance on the issue remains their problem, not ours.
The analyses of the events contradict each other. The Russian majority of the population in the Donbas provokes the civil war, starts the secession in eastern Ukraine. As always, you and Mikhailovich are distorting the facts.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1146107 "World court rejects bulk of Ukraine’s terrorism charges against Russia"
https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203473 JUDGMENT APPLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM AND OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (UKRAINE v. RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
"Judgment in Ukraine v. Russia | International Court of Justice (ICJ) | United Nations"
https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203487 "Summary of the Judgment of 31 January 2024"
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/182 "Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation)"
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/eastern-european-history-in-the-international-court-of-justice
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraine-and-the-promise-and-peril-of-lawfare/
https://goodauthority.org/news/what-the-icj-ruling-on-ukraine-v-russia-means/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/world/europe/ukraine-un-court-genocide-russia.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/russia-fascism-ukraine-putin.html
https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/eastern-ukraine-detention-and-death-sentences-armed-groups
https://aspeniaonline.it/russian-disinformation-about-the-ukrainian-conflict-since-2014-fact-checking-and-recurring-patterns/
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/china/disinformation-about-russias-invasion-ukraine-debunking-seven-myths-spread-russia_en?s=166
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11185-022-09258-5 "“Ukraine commits genocide on Russians”: the term “genocide” in Russian propaganda"
https://veleposlanistvorusije.mid.ru/en/press-centre/news/facts_of_human_rights_violations_discrimination_war_crimes_and_ethnocide_conducted_by_ukrainian_gove/
https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/fact-sheet-kremlins-occupation-playbook-coerced-russification-and-ethnic-cleansing
https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-lines-russias-ethnic-cleansing/
https://academic.oup.com/jicj/article/21/2/233/7197410 "Understanding Russia’s Actions in Ukraine as the Crime of Genocide"
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukrainian-victims-of-war-crimes-need-new-approaches-to-justice/
Trump pretends, Russia obligues, neither is actually interested in peace, nor can probably enforce it even if they wanted. For Russia the road to Kiev is still too long, for the USA Russian demands (regime change, demilitarization and/or strict neutrality of Ukraine) are not acceptable.
In the meantime France and Britain try to pull out something of a new Suez Canal Crisis or maybe a new Crimean War (almost two centuries after the actual one). It's been reported today that only those two regional powers (plus the irrelevant three East Baltic statelets and an unnamed sixth ally) are willing to put boots on the ground. The plan remains absolutely confusing and Russia is clearly signalling that such a development would cause WW3.
Would the USA intervene in a nuclear exchange between UK + France, and the Russian Federation ? Not nearly enough time in such warfare to properly debate Article V; and Trump might view the irradiation of Europe a) with indifference, and b) the perfect opportunity for Marshall Plan 2, a devastated Europe again in need of American loans, goods, resources, and military hardware.
Normalization Definition: the process of bringing or returning something to a normal condition or state.
US or Russia have different interpretation of this word…! Normalization cannot exclude lifting US sanctions of Russia or its existential security concerns…!
Normalization for Russia means returning to treaties: ABM, INF, Open Skies. Then dropping the sanctions.
To come back to normal diplomacy is also a kind of normalization. Now, at least, they are meeting and talking, including on a high level. I think, Putin, at least twice, talked to Witkoff and it were quite long conversations. One day, probably, he will talk to Trump too. Little by little the diplomacy started to work.
Based on that then Normalization is a broad word and should accompany an adjective… something to describe it for its particular implementation…! US and Russia for example doing normalization (although minimal) such as open closed embassies, staff them, agricultural trades, etc.,,,!
Russia is not really interested in sanctions status. In fact even if all lifted today, Rusdia will not automatically welcome back usinesses now thst it developed theirvown industries to substitute imports from the West, or is sourcing products mostly from Asian countries. Even if all sanctions on tech products and applications ard lifted today, they will not be bying them to avoid being delendent in the future. It has its own tech ecosystem . Even if SWIFT restrictions are dropped today Russia will not use it or any other banking service in the West. No need to risk losing more money than already lost.
As for substantive review of pissible settlement — the causes of conflict muxmst be removed, or else the problem remains. The clueless Kellogg is stillkving in Cold War era and tecommnding “zones of control! Really!
The most important thing — talka between Russia and Ukraine are necessary in whatever format. Even on a technicall level it will be good. Some level of investment in the leace process is needed to even establish small goals. Zelenski may object but if US wants it to happen it will happen.
Bianca::::;!!!!!! Go see what Ray McGovern said about Trump ultimatem to Iran @ antiwar.c-m last week sometime!!!!!! Antiwar.c-n pulled it down so you will have to search for it, or maybe I can find it in my history. How Iran is trying to squeeze CHINA by threatening to seize Iranian oil resources After Trump takes out their military defences. Apparently Trump threatened to completel destroy their military. But Russia & China hsve said NO!!!!! Here it is from Bing search.
"Breathing Room on War with Iran?: Robert Scheer Interviews Ray McGovern. "
Also Napantano has piece on it too.
IT's WWIII STUFF…!!!!!!
IT IS MUST READ STUFF FOR YOU & I
Please let me know what you Think
The ceasefire is dead on arrival. Baby steps and confidence building measures that were agreed upon — no hits on infrastructure — violated day one, two and three by Ukraine.
Predictably all western bullhorns insisted Russia did it.
It is not too hard to to verify data — but that is not the pount.
Trump has a serious problem with Ukraine. Zelenski is determined to pay back to Trumo for being put in place in Oval Office. And he is doing it by insuring thst whatever agreement Trump comes up with with Russia eill not be observed. He is making sure Trump pays for tge indignity.
Is there a point for Trump to continue along this path. Russia will not unilaterally stop the war until a comprehensive deal is reached. If Ukraine will not oblige Trump at all — where is this headed?
In the neantime our “mainstream” media is doubling down in spreading Ukrainian propaganda. Example todays CNN article on “life under Russian occupation! Nowhere does it say that anybody not wanting to live in regions now under Russian control does not have to. Well over 90% of population in those occupied regions are Russian and they could not wait to get under Russian control. In fact Russian or not — life has changed under change to Russian administration. Cities kike Mariupol are changed, new hospital built, ruins removed, a lots of contruction. Activities all over the region. The narative coming out of Kiev and CNN repeating — how population rejects the idea thst this is Russian territory. There is one flaw with these supposed real stories — no journalist from Kiev or any other nedia — CNN included — never visited occupied territories or conducted interviews.
Zelenski has no need for Trump. Trump must continue funding and sending arms — nothing stopped. Despite Zelenski’s insults to Trump’s peace efforts. Zelenski sees himdself as mini Bibi, and Trump cannot make bim do anything. Europe is firmly behind him.