Politics
First direct peace talks: Will Putin come face-to-face with Zelenskyy?
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.
Politics
Engineers Farouk Ahmed, Gbenga Komolafe resign, President Tinubu nominates successors to the Senate for approval
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve the nominations of two new chief executives for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The requests followed the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC. Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Buhari to lead the two regulatory agencies created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
To fill these positions, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry.
Eyesan, a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years with the NNPC and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at NNPC from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. He was announced today as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
His prior roles include Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company, as well as Chair of the boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
He also served as Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and policy frameworks, including the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Engineer Mohammed played a pivotal role in delivering key projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train.
President Bola Tinubu felicitates Senator Ifeanyi Godwin Ararume, astute politician and accomplished businessman, on his birthday, December 16.
Senator Ararume’s odyssey in politics began in the late 1980s, when he served as the State Treasurer of the Liberal Convention in old Imo State. He later joined the National Finance Committee of the defunct National Republican Convention.
He represented Imo North in the 9th National Assembly. He was first elected in May 1999 and re-elected in April 2003. He also served on several committees and held other official roles.
President Tinubu commends the former senator for his years of service to the nation and contributions to its peace, unity, and progress.
The President describes Senator Ararume as a resolute and shrewd politician, highlighting his courageous and remarkable political journey through the years.
President Tinubu wishes Senator Ararume a happy 67th birthday and prays that God Almighty will grant him more years of good health and strength.
Politics
Ndigbo are no longer spectators in the Nigerian project- Minister Dave Umahi dismisses calls for Biafra under Tinubu’s administration
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, says the all-inclusive style of governance being practiced by President Bola Tinubu has made the agitation for Biafra an unnecessary clamour.
While speaking at the inspection of the Enugu-Anambra road last Saturday, December 13, Umahi said the Tinubu administration had given Ndigbo what they had sought for decades, not through secession, but through what he described as unprecedented inclusion in national governance and development.
He explained that the agitation for Biafra was historically driven by neglect, exclusion and underrepresentation at the federal level, but insisted that the situation had changed under the current administration.
“When a people are fully integrated, respected and empowered within the structure of the nation, the dream they once chased through agitation has already been achieved through cooperation.
The push for Biafran secession over the years was borne out of neglect, exclusion and underrepresentation but today the narrative has changed dramatically under President Bola Tinubu.
The President has deliberately opened the doors of national development to the South-East. Appointments, policy inputs and infrastructure priorities now reflect true federal balance.
Every sector now bears visible Igbo footprints. The emergence of Igbo sons and daughters in strategic positions is a testament to this inclusion.
Biafra was never about breaking Nigeria; it was about being counted in Nigeria. Through inclusion, equity and concrete development, Ndigbo are no longer spectators in the Nigerian project; they are co-authors of its future. When justice finds a people, agitation loses its voice.”he said
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