Putin Sent Spy Chief to Peace Talks: "Hook-up Tactics"

Putin sent four people without any real power to the negotiating table in Istanbul. One of them is suspected of involvement in the Novichok poisoning in 2018. “I think it is an insult to Ukraine, but also to the US actually,” says Russia expert Johan Norberg to Dagens Nyheter.

Russian spy chief Igor Kostyukov is suspected of involvement in the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury, UK, in 2018. That didn't stop Putin from giving him a seat at the negotiating table in Istanbul. “People like that don't usually appear in these kinds of talks,” says Jakob Hedenskog, an analyst at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, calling it “teasing.”