Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Russia’s Kursk Region Amid Accusations of Stalling Peace Talks

President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Russia’s Kursk region, his first since Russian troops pushed out Ukrainian troops who had been occupying parts of the region since launching an incursion last year.

Video from state television showed Putin meeting on May 20 with several groups of residents from the area, as well as with acting regional Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein.

Ukrainian troops launched the incursion in August last year in a bold attack that appeared to catch Russia off guard. Kyiv said that at one point it controlled some 1,400 square kilometers of the region. Last month Moscow claimed it had pushed out the Ukrainian soldiers to end the incursion.

Putin’s visit comes amid accusations that he is stalling peace talks to end Europe’s largest and deadliest conflict since World War II in an attempt to gain as much territory as possible to strengthen his hand at the negotiating table.

Last week Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held the first face-to-face talks in more than three years, in a bid to halt the fighting.

There was little progress to that end, prompting US President Donald Trump to hold a two-hour phone call with Putin on May 19 that resulted in a pledge by Moscow to prepare a memorandum with preconditions for a cease-fire, which many analysts and European diplomats said amounted to foot-dragging by the Kremlin.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on May 20 that Trump hasn’t followed through on imposing new sanctions on Moscow because he “believes that right now, if you start threatening sanctions, the Russians will stop talking, and there’s value in us being able to talk to them and drive them to get to the table.”

The European Union and Britain went ahead on May 20 with their own packages of new sanctions on Russia, with the 27-member EU saying it is already planning another “massive” round of restrictions.

For its part, the Kremlin again denied it is dragging out the process, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters “everyone is working dynamically” toward a settlement of the conflict.

Trump has made ending the fighting in Ukraine a top foreign policy priority since taking office four months ago. In March, Trump demanded the two sides immediately agree to a 30-day cease-fire. He has repeated that demand since then, saying he would sanction any country undermining a cease-fire.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to the White House proposal, Putin has refused, demanding Kyiv agree to certain pre-conditions first, such as recognition of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, the country’s demilitarization and neutral status.

After the May 19 phone call, Trump appeared to indicate he is prepared to back away from the talks.

While diplomatic wrangling edges forward, both sides continue to pound each other on the battlefield.

Russian drones hit the Ukrainian city of Sumy overnight, destroying civilian buildings and cutting off power supplies.

Ukraine’s military said its drones struck a semiconductor devices plant in Russia’s western Oryol region, knocking out a supplier to Russian fighter jet and missile producers.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around midday on May 21 that Russian air defenses downed three drones headed toward the capital.

The incoming drones forced Moscow’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports to temporarily shut down, Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said./Rferl/