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Kyiv and Moscow agreed on a meeting on June 2 in Istanbul, the head of Rostec entered into an agreement with American lobbyists, about 400 thousand people signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2024

Ukraine and Russia announced their readiness to meet in Istanbul

The Ukrainian side is ready to meet with Russian in Istanbul for the second round of negotiations, said the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrei Yermak. He emphasized that Ukraine wants a constructive discussion, and therefore expects to receive from Russia a “memorandum” before a new round of negotiations.

Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov also stated that the Russian delegation was going to Istanbul for negotiations with Kiev on June 2. According to Peskov, "they will not publish projects of Russian and Ukrainian memorandums." Putin himself is also ready for negotiations if Turkish President Recep Erdogan is ready to accept the presidents of Russia, the USA and Ukraine, the press secretary said.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in an evening appeal to the nation drew attention to the fact that neither Ukraine nor Turkey, as the receiving side, had no information about the Russian memorandum promised by Putin Trump during a telephone call almost two weeks ago. “For some reason, the Russians hide their document. A completely strange position. No understanding of the format, ”he said.

In the second round of negotiations, Russia is going to send the same delegation as to the first-led by pseudo-historic Vladimir Medinsky.

Will there be sense in this meeting?

Moscow and Kyiv agreed before the new negotiations to present to each other a memorandum of a truce. Ukraine has already shown its version of the US Memorandum and is waiting for the Russian version. According to the New York Times, the Ukrainian memorandum "includes the provisions on the end of fire on land, at sea and in the air, while monitoring will be carried out by international partners." US special representative Keith Kellogs said that the Ukrainian memorandum includes 22 conditions that he described as “pretty good” and “reasonable”.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insists that the Russian project of the memorandum should be discussed already at the negotiation table in Istanbul, without intermediation of the United States. Ukrainian officials said that Russia may try to “lure their delegation into a trap”, offering conditions that are not suitable for Kyiv, for example, to demand the withdrawal of troops from the territories that he still controls, and then accuse Ukraine of disrupting the negotiations, refusing to participate.

“The current diplomatic dances have strengthened doubts about whether new negotiations will take place, and if they take place, whether they can lead to any significant progress on the way to the world,” writes New York Times. “Today, a conversation with Turkey President Erdogan is also planned. We are trying to add real content to a possible meeting. Not a single day should be lost, because every day by the Russians of diplomacy is lost - this is the lost lives of people, ”Zelensky notes in the evening handling.

The American senator from South Carolina Lindsay Graham, who visited Kyiv, also considers negotiations without a pre -designated agenda without a pre -designated agenda. “With the Russians, everything is about the same: make an appointment, tighten it. It is almost clear to anyone that Putin is in no way interested in anything that could lead to the world, ”he said.

About 400 thousand people signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2024 , calculated "important stories"

From 374.2 thousand to 407.2 thousand people concluded a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation last year, calculated “important stories” based on data on the expenses of the federal budget. The scatter is due to the fact that in August 2024, Putin raised the federal payment for the conclusion of the contract, therefore it is difficult to calculate the exact number of recruits for the 3rd quarter of 2024.

Compared to the previous year, the recruitment rate has decreased. In the 4th quarter of 2024, an average of 1700 people a day was signed. This is 1.3 times less than in the same period of 2023.

The Ministry of Defense probably still overstates the number of new contractors. At the end of 2024, the Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov said that 427 thousand people concluded a contract for the service - this is 5-15% higher than the budget expenditures show. The assessment of Dmitry Medvedev - 450 thousand contractors - even more diverges from budget expenditures.

Are the Russians to fight in 2025?

Data from the regions show that in the spring of 2025 the pace of recruitment to the contract continues to decline. At the same time, Putin announced a double increase in “volunteers” - 1800 recruits per day. In fact, contracts with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are now concluding on average about 1000 people a day throughout Russia, the German researcher Janis Klyge, who is assessing the rate of recruiting in the Russian army.

Read more - in the material of "important stories".

The head of Rostec hired American lawyers to consult US sanctions

The American company Rathmell Short LLP will advise the head of Rostec Sergei Chemezov and the director of the state corporation for special instructions by Vasily Brovko on administrative and legal issues. This follows from the document dated March 19, 2025, and that appeared on the website of the US Ministry of Justice.

According to the information in the contract, the Russians turned to Rathmell Short LLP for consultations on compliance with sanctions, preparing and submitting requests for exclusion from the sanctions list, as well as to coordinate activities with consultants with state bodies, for which the company will attract another company - Sonoran Policy Group. The cost of these services is $ 2.6 million.

RIA Novosti and TASS claim that Rathmell Short LLP will be engaged in the lifting of US sanctions from Chemezov, and this is "initiated by the American side." “It can be assumed that on the part of the administration of the [US President Donald] Trump, a campaign is being carried out to withdraw from the sanctions of high-ranking Russian leaders in order to continue working and business,” said one of RIA Novosti's interlocutors.

Can Russian state agencies believe?

The document does not talk about any participation or initiative of the United States as a state. It is discussed that Sergey Chemezov and his subordinate Vasily Brovko hired American lobbyists, notes the new newspaper Europe. In particular, the head of the company Sonoran Policy Group-Robert Stryk is one of the most successful lobbyists during the first presidency of Trump, who became known because he took up affairs, from which other lobbying companies tried to stay away.

This week alone, Trump accused Vladimir Putin of “playing with fire” against the backdrop of fires of Ukraine and threatened with new sanctions against Russia. Trump's position on anti-Russian sanctions is ambiguous-recently, according to Reuters, the US President “loses patience and is disappointed” by Vladimir Putin due to mortal shelling of Ukrainian cities, and his associates are pushing him to tighten the sanctions. Senator Lindsay Graham today stated in Kiev that next week the US Senate will begin to submit a previously prepared bill on tightening sanctions against Moscow.

However, in the course of talking about the world between Russia and Ukraine, there was more than once a proposal to lift sanctions from Moscow. In particular, this was required by the Russian side. Kiev also reported that it was not against the gradual lifting of sanctions in the event of a number of conditions of the Ukrainian side.

Since the beginning of a full -scale war, Russia has earned three times more money on fuel export, which Ukraine received from allies

This follows from the data analyzed by the BBC. By May 29, 2025, Russia received more than 883 billion euros (973 billion US dollars) revenues from export of fossil fuel since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, including 228 billion euros from countries that have imposed sanctions. The lion's share of this amount-209 billion euros-came from the EU member states.

These income of Russia invariably exceeds the amount of assistance that Ukraine receives from its allies. From February 2022 to February 2023, Kyiv received assistance for $ 309 billion, the Killy Institute of the World Economy reports. Of these, only 73 billion - from EU countries.

The EU states continued to import pipeline gas directly from Russia until Ukraine stopped transit in January 2025, and Russian raw oil is still supplied through pipelines to Hungary and Slovakia. Russian gas is still delivered to Europe in increasing volumes through Turkey: Crea data show that its volume increased by 26.77% in January and February 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. Hungary and Slovakia also continue to receive Russian pipeline gas through Turkey.

Despite the sanctions, in 2024, Russia's income from fossil fuel fell by only 5% compared to 2023, and export volumes were reduced by 6%, according to Crea. Last year, Russia's income from raw oil exports also increased by 6%, and pipe gas revenues increased by 9% in annual calculus. Currently, half of the export of LNG from Russia goes to the EU, reports Crea.

Why doesn't the EU impose more stringent sanctions?

The head of the EU foreign policy, Kai Callas said that the Alliance did not introduce “the most stringent sanctions” against Russian oil and gas, since some member states fear the escalation of war, as well as because to buy them “cheaper in the short term”. LNG imports were not included in the last, 17th package of sanctions against Russia, approved by the EU, but then a roadmap was agreed on the cessation of the entire import of Russian gas by the end of 2027.

Many Western politicians fear that the reduction in Russian fuel imports will lead to an increase in energy prices, says May Rosner, senior activist of the Global Witness human rights group. “Many governments have no real desire to limit Russia's capabilities for the production and sale of oil. Too much fear about the fact that this will mean for global energy markets. There is a feature behind which energy markets will be too undermined or too removed from balance, ”she said BBC.