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Rutte: Russia Undermined Peace Talks by Sending Historian to Recite History Since 1250
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte sharply criticized Russia’s role in stalled Ukraine peace negotiations, revealing that Moscow sent a historian to the talks who gave a lecture on Russian history dating back to the year 1250.
Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump at a joint press conference on July 14, Rutte described repeated setbacks in efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
“I remember I was in Turkey for NATO business in May, and we really put pressure on the Ukrainians to send a senior team into Istanbul—and they did,” Rutte said. “But then the Russians came with this historian, explaining the history of Russia since 1250.”
US President Donald Trump recalled that the US, with the involvement of Senator Marco Rubio and diplomat Steve Witkoff, helped launch negotiations in Istanbul.
According to him, the deal should have been concluded long ago, but the process continues without results. He also drew attention to the heavy losses on the Russian side: “Every night, people are dying — many people. A lot of Russian soldiers are dying, and many Ukrainian soldiers too. But since January, 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.”
Earlier, at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that “since the beginning of 2025, roughly 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine—dead, not wounded.”
