Moscow starts putting together team for US negotiations, Putin’s spokesman says
Pravda Ukraine
The Kremlin has announced that Russia is assembling a team for negotiations with the United States following a conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on 12 February.
Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti, citing remarks made by Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, at a briefing on 13 February
Quote from Peskov: “Naturally, work has begun [on assembling a negotiating team – ed]. We will inform you as soon as the president makes a decision.”
Details: Peskov added that Putin’s decision on the group’s composition would also be announced later.
The official did not reveal who initiated the conversation between Putin and Trump or whether it was the first of its kind since the US president’s inauguration.
He also noted that no specific agreements have been made on a possible visit to Russia by US negotiators. Still, Peskov added that Putin and Trump agreed to maintain contact, both personally and at the aide level.
“There are many topics on the agenda, briefly outlined during yesterday’s phone call, but it is too early to discuss any deadlines as work is only just beginning,” Peskov said.
He added that the parties discussed the energy sector, the Middle East settlement, Iran’s nuclear programme and bilateral Russo-American economic relations. However, they did not tackle the issue of sanctions against Russia or the so-called “accession of the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia”.
Peskov stressed that the Kremlin considers the conversation between Putin and Trump to be of great importance.
“The previous US administration held the view that everything should be done to keep the war going. The current administration, as far as we understand, is of the opinion that everything should be done to stop the war and to bring peace. We are much more impressed with the current administration position. We are open to dialogue,” Putin’s spokesman said.
Asked about the possible participation of Europe and China in the talks, he said that “there is no understanding about the format of a possible negotiation process”.
Peskov suggested refraining from defining specific parameters for a settlement and instead waiting for the initial results of Russia-US discussions.
At the same time, he stressed that Russia will “always take into account the experience of the Minsk agreements” in new negotiations.
Background:
- On 12 February, US President Donald Trump spoke with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, after which he said that he and Putin agreed that they “want to stop the millions of deaths that are taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine”.
- “We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” the US president added.
- Trump then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss further contacts.
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