Zelensky Auditioning Meeting Locations- Thinks It A Game Show- “The Price Is Right” And “Come On Down” Will Be Political Catnip For Stocker, Orban, Al Thani, Keller-Sutter, Erdogan, Al Nahyan
President Zelensky Auditioning Meeting Locations- Thinks Everything Is A Game Show- “The Price Is Right”
“Come On Down” As Bob Parker Said For Decades.
President Zelensky Believes By Floating Austria, Hungary, Qatar, Switzerland, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates, Leaders Stocker, Orban, Al Thani, Keller-Sutter, Erdogan, And Al Nahyan Will “Pressure” President Putin To Agree To A Meeting. He’s Wrong.
For thirty-five years, Bob Barker hosted the television game show “The Price is Right” where nine selected contestants were invited to “come on down” to “Bidder’s Row” in the front of a stage and guess the value of a shown prize; the nearest to the correct value won the prize.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022), believes he can produce a collective political organism by creating competition among countries to host his bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012-2030), and/or a trilateral meeting with Donald Trump, President of the United States (2017-2021 and 2025-2029).
“Now, this week there will be contacts with Turkey, contacts with the Gulf States and with European states which could serve as platforms for talks with Russia. On our part, everything will be as ready as possible to end the war. It is important that our partners confirm this.” President Zelensky
President Zelensky believes he can create, direct, and produce an event governments will compete to host- a political version of naming rights. Like a game show where contestants (heads of state and heads of government) compete for a prize (meeting)- basically who bids the most.
President Zelensky wants Christian Stocker, Chancellor Austria (2025- ); Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary (1998-2002 and 2010- ); Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar (2013- ); Karin Maria Keller-Sutter, President of Switzerland (2025- ); Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye (2014-2028); and Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of United Arab Emirates (2022- ) to compete with one another.
President Zelensky neither controls nor determines the location for a Putin-Zelensky bilateral or Putin-Trump-Zelensky trilateral. He will go wherever President Putin agrees to go. He is attempting to leverage perceived value of his presence when given his frequent international travel the marketing value of a visit by him has demonstrably diminished since 24 February 2022.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what President Putin defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war. The initial invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of Belarus.
The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022. The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).
President Putin will determine the location. The first consideration for him is avoiding travel-related issues and host-related domestics political issues from a 17 March 2023 warrant for his arrest issued by The Hague, Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC). That means Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland are problematic.
Austria and Hungary are members of the twenty-seven (27) country Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU) which has imposed since 24 February 2022 eighteen (18) sanctions packages impacting the Russian Federation. Hungary is a member of the thirty-two (32) country Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland (neither an EU member or NATO member) are signers of the 1998 Rome Statute of the ICC which created the ICC. The government of Hungary has withdrawn effective 2026.
EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
NATO: United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Turkiye, Latvia, and North Macedonia, Sweden.
One member of NATO, the Republic of Turkiye, is not a signer of the Rome Statute of the ICC. Qatar is not a signer to the Rome Statute. The United Arab Emirates is a signer to the Rome Statute, but has not adopted it.
There would be certainly some pleasure for President Putin to travel within EU member airspace, land at an EU member airport, be hosted by an EU member head of state or head of government, be granted immunity while within the country and while traveling within EU member airspace, and then to depart without being arrested. For President Putin, a very visible way to reinforce the lack of commitment, lack of resolve, and lack of unanimity to the ICC where all members of the EU are signers to the document that created the ICC.
The second consideration for President Putin is which government will be the better host not only in terms of protocol, but in terms of projecting toward President Trump and other countries, particularly members of the APEC, BRICS, EU G7, G20, and SCO that the Russian Federation, both its government and commercial, consumer, economic, and financial sectors, remain relevant, resilient, perhaps even sought after, despite the impact of the Russian Federation-Ukraine war.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, United States, Vietnam.
BRICS: Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates. NOTE: Saudi Arabia continues to consider membership.
Group of 7 (G7) is based less upon Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more about the type of government. (2014-Present) Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States. The Russian Federation was excluded in 2014 due to its military actions on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.
Group of 20 (G20) is based solely upon GDP. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): China, Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Governments hosting a bilateral and/or trilateral appreciate fully that the draw, value, the sizzle with the steak is derived first from the presence of President Putin, not the presence of President Zelensky.
However, there is no value for either head of state if a meeting does not take place- regardless of the location preferred by one or both.
Media References
Ukraine Business News (27 August 2025): “Ukraine contacts 'several countries' that could host negotiations with Russia, Zelensky says. “This week, there will be contacts with Turkey, with the Gulf countries, and with European countries that could serve as platforms for talks with Russia. On our part, everything will be as ready as possible to end the war. It is important that our partners confirm this,” Zelensky said in his address.”
““Now, this week there will be contacts with Turkey, contacts with the Gulf States and with European states which could host talks with the Russians. From our side, things will be prepared to the maximum in order to end the war.” Zelensky spoke as his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he and Ukraine's national security council chief were in Qatar to meet that country's defence minister.”
Kyiv Independent (26 August 2025): Ukraine will be in contact with several countries that could serve as a platform for negotiations with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 26. “This week, there will be contacts with Turkey, with the Gulf countries, and with European countries that could serve as platforms for talks with Russia. On our part, everything will be as ready as possible to end the war. It is important that our partners confirm this,” Zelensky said in his address. Zelensky has repeatedly voiced readiness for direct negotiations. On Aug. 18, he said he was prepared to discuss territorial issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin personally. “From now on, everything will depend solely on the will of world leaders, primarily the United States, to put pressure on Russia. New steps and new pressure are needed: sanctions, tariffs- all of this must be on the table,” Zelensky added. Switzerland, Austria, Turkey and Hungary have been floated as possible hosts for the peace talks. Turkey earlier this year hosted multiple rounds of peace talks among U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul. No actual date for direct talks between Zelensky and Putin has been set. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is working to arrange a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, a move supported by Kyiv's European allies, but the effort has been met with resistance from Moscow. Putin is avoiding meeting with Zelensky because “he doesn't like him,” Trump said on Aug. 25. Trump separately met Putin and Zelensky earlier this month as part of his push to broker peace, but no breakthrough has been achieved, and Russia has continued striking Ukrainian cities. “Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Aug. 25. “And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and then I get very angry about it. I think we're going to get the war done. It's tough… Strange things happen in war.”
