First News From Istanbul Round 2

The June 2 Istanbul meeting between Russia and Ukrainian delegations is over.

At this early stage the only news on any new agreement, and it is not even certain that this has been agreed, is that there will (may) be another prisoner swap on an all-for-all basis. This, if it occurs, will be heavily in favour of Ukraine, since they gave back all Russian PoWs in the previous swap, while Russia – since it was on a 1-for-1 basis gave back only about 10 percent of Ukraine PoWs being held in Russia.

But this time there is another difference. Russia wants back all, every last one, of its citizens being held in Ukraine detention, including sick and injured, civilian or military. That would presumably – and remember there are no details at this stage – return to something more like a balance of people for people, since I believe there would br no Ukrainian civilians being held in Russia.

This is interesting. Why would Russia want back, apart from balancing the numbers, every one of its citizens? This sounds to me like a clearing of the space (Ukraine space) of all Russians on whom revenge may be taken after Russia repays Ukraine in kind for its recent and past indiscretions against Russia. In other words they want no possible backlash against their own folk when they unleash hell on large, populated areas of that country. This speaks of a decisive blow being planned to bring the conflict to a speedy conclusion, no matter the consequences, and without harm to their own people trapped there.

Sounds reasonable? I guess we will soon know.

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First News From Istanbul Round 2

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