As the world awaits news from Moscow, Russia still refuses to say if President Vladimir Putin will attend Thursday’s meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey.

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia will announce its representative for the expected peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul once Putin “deems it necessary”.

He also did not confirm whether Russia’s president would attend the meeting himself or send someone else.

All Peskov said was that “the Russian side continues to prepare for the talks in Istanbul”.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is also preparing, as Zelenskyy repeated again that he is ready to come to Turkey personally and is expecting an answer from Moscow.

“Moscow has remained silent all day regarding the proposal for a direct meeting. A very strange silence”, he said on Monday evening, adding that one way or another, Russia “will have to end this war”.

“The sooner, the better. There is no sense in continuing the killing,” Zelenskyy emphasised.

Zelenskyy’s office has signalled that Ukraine’s president would not meet any other official apart from Putin, however.

Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Tuesday that any talks with lower-level representatives would be pointless.

“Only Putin can make a decision to continue the war or stop the war,” Podolyak said.

Podolyak is well-informed in this regard: he was representing Ukraine in the first attempted talks between Russia and Ukraine, just days after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in early 2022.

‘Istanbul 2022’

On 28 February 2022, four days into Moscow’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian and Russian officials sat down for the first attempted negotiations to put an end to the war.

The delegations met on Ukraine’s border with Moscow’s key ally, Belarus, following the call between Zelenskyy and his counterpart in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko.

After a few rounds of talks in Belarus and then online, the delegations met in Istanbul on 29 March 2022.

Ukraine called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces from its territory.

Tanks move during the Belarusian and Russian joint military drills at Brestsky firing range in Belarus right before full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 4 February 2022 AP/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service

Russia insisted on what the Kremlin calls “root causes” of the war, voiced by Putin, as the reasons to invade Ukraine.

According to Moscow, these include NATO’s alleged violation of commitments not to expand into eastern Europe and along Russia’s borders, the Ukrainian government’s alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians and more blurry arguments, such as what Putin calls the “denazification” of Ukraine.

Putin and Russia have failed to provide evidence for any of these allegations so far.

Now, the Kremlin wants the new round of talks to proceed from where the sides left off in March 2022.

Istanbul 2022 vs Istanbul 2025

Addressing the media outlets late at night over the weekend, Putin proposed that Russia and Ukraine “resume” the direct negotiations that he claimed “Ukraine interrupted” on 15 May 2022.

Russian presidential aide Yuriy Ushakov later reiterated the Kremlin’s official position, saying that negotiations should account for “developments of the 2022 talks”.

The Istanbul 2022 draft agreement included terms US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War equates to complete Ukrainian surrender.

According to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the 2022 draft protocols demanded that Ukraine forego its NATO membership aspirations and amend its constitution to add a neutrality provision that would ban Ukraine from joining any military alliances, concluding military agreements, or hosting foreign military personnel, trainers, or weapon systems in Ukraine.

Moscow also demanded that Russia, the US, the UK, China, France and Belarus serve as security guarantors of the agreement.

FILE: Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to French President Emmanuel Macron during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, 7 February 2022 AP/Sputnik

Russia demanded that the guarantor states “terminate international treaties and agreements incompatible with the permanent neutrality of Ukraine” including military aid agreements.

Moscow also insisted that the Ukrainian military should be limited to 85,000 soldiers and Ukrainian missiles wouldn’t exceed the range of 40 kilometres, which would allow Russian forces to deploy critical systems and materiel close to Ukraine without fear of strikes.

Three years later, Moscow seems to be willing to insist on the same demands, despite the fact that Russia has not fulfilled any of its strategic goals in Ukraine, couldn’t capture any regional capital and has not even reached the administrative borders of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the areas Moscow has occupied since its initial invasion in 2014.

Abia State government has announced that the Abattoirs in Lokpanta and Uzuakoli which were shut down because of dirty conditions have been reopened after undergoing renovations.

Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu made this known on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of this week’s executive council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.

He said that Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, has commenced the door-to-door collection of wastes in parts of Umuahia and Aba and also the street to street refuse collection in parts of Abia North.

Also speaking, the General Manager of ASEPA, Ogbonnaya Okereke raised the alarm about the unwholesome taste of meat being processed with Tire flames and sold to the Abia public, saying that the State government will soon be coverting Cow Dung to biogas to control the menace.

Meanwhile, the State government congratulated the Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia for qualifying for CAF continental ticket next season, describing the fit as historic.

On a sad note, the Abia State government announced that the Commissioner for Labour and Employment, Sunny Onwuma who died some weeks ago, would be buried on Thursday, 15th May, 2025.

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, led by Chief Emeka Beke, has expressed concern over what it described as misleading interpretation of a recent judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.

The case, in Appeal No. CA/PH/371/2024, involves H.E. Abdullahi Ganduje and others as appellants against Peter Ohochukwu and others.

The Beke-led APC contended that prevailing interpretations of the judgment do not accurately reflect the actual decision of the appellate court.

On Friday, May 2, the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal ruled on an appeal filed by the APC National Executive Committee challenging a High Court injunction that restrained the party from conducting congresses in Rivers State.

The appellate court held that matters relating to the internal affairs and leadership of a political party are non-justiciable, thereby nullifying the earlier High Court order and striking out the suit filed by Peter Ohochukwu on behalf of the Emeka Beke-led, previously dissolved, state working committee.

In a joint statement signed by the State Chairman, Chief Emeka Beke and the Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, the Rivers APC acknowledged the judgment but insisted it does not alter the current situation.

The statement reads in part, “The matter was an interlocutory appeal challenging the interim orders of injunction made against Appellants therein by the High Court of Rivers State.

“The judgement did not disturb the validity of the tenure of office of the duly elected Executive Committee of the Party as led by Chief Beke which has been duly recognized and affirmed by the High Court of Rivers State.”

The party recalled that on August 12, 2024, the Rivers State High Court, presided over by Justice S.H. Aprioku in Suit No. PHC/3592/CS/2023, affirmed and validated the tenure of the Beke-led Executive Committee as the legitimate leadership of the APC in Rivers State until October 21, 2025.

This decision, the statement noted, remained in effect as it has not been overturned or set aside by any superior court.

“It is therefore a ridiculous misadventure for any other person or group outside the Emeka Beke led Exco to claim to be Leader of the Rivers State Chapter of the APC,” the statement added.

The party also referenced “Suit No: PHC/3859/CS/2024 (Okwu Joebrown Ndike & Ors. vs. All Progressives Congress & Anor), in which claimants, having paid for nomination forms for elective congresses, were denied access to the forms and sought a court order to stop the APC from conducting congresses without providing them.

“Again, you will recall that in SUIT NO: PHC/3859/CS/2024 BETWEEN: OKWU JOEBROWN NDIKE & ORS. VS. ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS & ANOR, one Okwu Joebrown Ndike and 2 others who bought Nomination Forms for All Progressives Congress’ Ward, Local Government and State Executive Committees elective congresses. The Claimants after paying for the Nomination Forms were not given the said Forms.

“They thereafter approached the Rivers State High Court to restrain APC from conducting the said elective congresses without issuing them with the Nomination Forms.

“On November 21, 2024, the High Court granted an ex parte order maintaining the status quo and allowed substituted service of court processes to the APC National Secretariat.

“The suit and orders were served on November 22, 2024, as directed.

“Despite being served, the faction led by Tony Okocha proceeded to conduct the ward and state congresses on November 23 and 30, 2024, in defiance of the court’s directive.”

Subsequently, the claimants filed two motions seeking to nullify the congresses for being held in violation of court orders.

On December 20, 2024, the High Court ruled in favour of the claimants, nullifying the congresses and awarding N10 million in damages against the defendants for disobedience.

The court also adjourned the substantive suit sine die (indefinitely), pending the outcome of an appeal filed against the ex parte order.

While the Court of Appeal, in its May 2, 2025 judgment, ruled that the matter pertains to internal party affairs and is therefore non-justiciable, the Beke-led APC cautioned individuals claiming leadership outside the duly elected Executive Committee to desist as there is an existing judgement ratifying their leadership.

They urged all members of the APC in Rivers State to remain calm and steadfast, reaffirming the party’s commitment to democracy and good governance.