Transcript of News X interview, 17 May

Transcript submitted by a reader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pXz7Ap86wo

NewsX: 0:00
our big focus this hour: the Kremlin has confirmed that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could happen, but only if key agreements are reached. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has emphasized that the identity of the Ukrainian signatory to any agreement remains a crucial issue. Meanwhile, talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul lasted for about two hours, with no breakthrough on a ceasefire. However, both sides agreed to a significant prisoner swap of 1,000 prisoners of war.

0:26
In Albania, European leaders attending the European Political Community summit expressed deep concern over the lack of progress in peace talks. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU is preparing a new sanctions package to increase pressure on Russia, targeting entities like the Russian shadow fleet and Nord Stream pipelines. Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack on a Ukrainian minibus has killed nine civilians, mostly elderly women, in the northern Sumi region, sparking further outrage. US President Donald Trump claimed that Putin is tired of the war and is eager for peace talks. Trump said he believes he can facilitate a deal, but stressed the importance of direct talks with Putin to end the conflict.

1:12
Gilbert Doctorow, Russian affairs expert, is joining us live from Brussels in Belgium. Gilbert Doctorow, thank you for being with us today. What is your analysis of the progress made in the peace talks in Turkey? How do you react to the deliberations that happened between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, even though the heads of state did not attend?

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD:
Well, it would be exceptional, in fact, it would be nonsense for the heads of state to attend a preliminary meeting. Heads of state normally come in to sign off on agreements that their assistants, their expert assistants, have arrived at in consultations. That was what was foreseen in March- April of 2022, when the first direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian teams met in Istanbul, and it made sense that all the work was done, a 50- or 60-page agreement was prepared and initialed, and there was going to be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin. That’s how these things go. And anyone who says that Putin should have come to a first-time meeting with nothing whatever agreed is only doing it, saying it for propagandistic reasons.

2:33
The people who are saying that are obviously von der Leyen and the EU leaders who have formed a coalition of the willing. The main point is: the likelihood of an agreement being reached between these two sides is nil. Their positions are entirely contradictory. Each side is expecting an agreement that will record the complete defeat of the other side, a capitulation. The Ukrainians want a trial, a tribunal against Mr. Putin and his colleagues. They want reparations. They’re acting as if they won the war, when everyone knows they’ve lost the war.

3:20
The Russians, similarly, only are willing to speak about a ceasefire if the Ukrainians withdraw from the four oblasts or regions in Eastern Ukraine that are now part of the Russian Federation, but are only partially occupied by Russian troops. These positions are contradictory, irreconcilable, and it is pointless to expect a negotiated settlement, which is not to say that I disagree with Mr. Trump. I agree completely with his statement two days ago that he personally can bring peace to end this war. And he can, but not at the negotiating table. He can do it by stopping US deliveries of weapons to Ukraine and by refusing to sell weapons to the EU for further delivery to Ukraine. If he does that, the war will end in weeks or a couple of months, And that will bring peace and an end to the slaughter that we see every day.

NewsX: 4:21
Yes. We are seeing now, Gilbert, that, you know, this new deal has been agreed to. Do you see that as progress on a prisoner swap, thousand, thousand to be exchanged?

Doctorow:
We’re speaking about 2,000 families in Russia and Ukraine, who will have their husbands, their brothers, their fathers, their sons return to their midst. We can only applaud that agreement. It is humane and humanitarian. However, that is not an end to the war. But it’s a good step. It shows that the sides could find something to talk about that is constructive. That’s very good.

NewsX: 5:00
How do you react to this EU package now that it’s being announced to try and pressurize Russia, the EU looking at stepping up sanctions further?

Doctorow:
The only thing that von der Leyen of the EU Commission can do is make packages. She’s a real good packateer, as the Russians are calling her. It’s nonsense to put sanctions on a pipeline that has been destroyed, tells you the level of thinking of Madame von der Leyen and her close colleagues.

5:30
It is nonsense to say, that they will impair the movement of Russian shadow fleet oil tankers is also nonsense, because the latest attempt to do that in the Baltic was ended when Russian jets flew over the, I believe it was Norwegian, and certainly it was Estonian, cutters, that thought they were going to intercept and stop a Russian shadow-fleet tanker. They want war, they’ll get war. But unfortunately for them, they really cannot have a war.

And so this is posturing. Madame von der Leyen is posturing. She is bluffing, and everyone serious knows that. The Russians aren’t moved one inch by all of her threats, because they’re totally empty.

NewsX:
Gilbert Doctorow, thank you for joining us with your perspective on that story.

6:23
Moving on now, Israeli airstrike–