Putin likes to be unpredictable and own the agenda
Vladimir Medinsky, Mikhail Galuzin, Igor Kostyukov, Alexander Fomin – if those names don’t mean anything to you, that is very much the point.
This is not Vladimir Putin’s top team. It is not his veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov or negotiating heavyweight Yuri Ushakov.
Instead, this is a much more junior contingent, which will make up Russia’s delegation at the talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday.
It is an attempt, I think, to humiliate Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who’s been saying all week that he will be waiting for Mr Putin in Turkey.
But the Kremlin leader isn’t someone who takes kindly to ultimatums or the demands of others. He likes to be the one in charge, and publishing a list like this, at the 11th hour, is an expression of power. He won’t be pushed around.
Although Mr Putin’s name is not on the list, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not going. The chatter on Telegram late on Wednesday was that the talks might be extended into a second day and the Russian president may show on Friday.
We simply don’t know at this stage. But what we do know is Mr Putin likes to be unpredictable. He likes to own the agenda. Keeping everyone guessing is a way of doing just that.
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