Press review: EU rejects security reform, stalls Ukraine peace as Armenia loses CSTO vote

Detailed summary

Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, November 13th

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Putin discussed Ukraine peace efforts with US envoys in Moscow as European involvement in future talks remains on the table; Armenia lost its CSTO voting rights but retained membership amid tensions with Moscow; and Russia is expanding the Northern Sea Route as cargo traffic rises and foreign interest grows. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Another meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump’s negotiators - Special Envoy Steven Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner - was held at the Kremlin on November 12. The talks lasted more than two hours. Also present in a hall of the Kremlin’s First Building were Russian presidential aide for foreign policy Yury Ushakov, Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev, and another presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, who heads Russia’s negotiating team.

The Russian president noted some progress on the humanitarian front in Ukraine. Putin also said that the Ukrainian side had raised the issue of "gray zones." In his assessment, disputes and instability surrounding these issues would only mean that "there will be no lasting peace." The Russian president also proposed setting up a humanitarian mission from Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), following the example of an operation previously conducted in Alyoshki in the Kherson Region.

Maria Khorolskaya, head of the Risk Assessment Group at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, believes that Europe’s position on the Ukrainian conflict remains unchanged and does little to advance the prospects for a peaceful settlement.

There is no prevailing view in Europe that the security system needs to be reformed, according to Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.

Trump needs to show that he is actively pursuing…

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