Coming events: Chat with John Helmer on ‘The Duran,’ Thursday, 17 October

As I have written on these pages recently, the Moscow based journalist John Helmer has published what amounts to harsh criticism of Vladimir Putin from some top generals over his alleged readiness to sacrifice Russian state interests in forthcoming peace negotiations to put an early end to the war and to spare his country’s oligarchs further economic losses. Helmer has directed attention to the negotiator of the almost concluded peace treaty initialed in Istanbul in March 2022, Vladimir Medinsky, suggesting that this former Minister of Culture was not up to the task of defending Russia. Helmer believes Medinsky will again be appointed as chief negotiator if and when the Russians and Ukrainians sit down together to negotiate a peace.