Russia and the United States remain deadlocked over initiating peace talks for the current war in Ukraine, said foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov. On Russian state TV, Ushakov verified that though Putin and US President Donald Trump had during their last week’s telephonic talk mentioned commencing talks, no developments regarding critical points like appointing an American negotiator were made.
Ushakov, who will accompany Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday in bilateral negotiations with US counterparts in Saudi Arabia, stressed that the Russian negotiating team was ready for “business-like” talks. The main task of the talks scheduled for later this week is to negotiate the normalization of relations between Moscow and Washington, as well as the possible resumption of negotiations on the war in Ukraine. Ushakov also suggested that follow-up high-level meetings between Trump and Putin may be in the works.
Lack of an American chief negotiator, though, is a sticking point, with Ushakov pointing out that the Americans had not yet named a person to conduct the negotiations with Russia. That lag is slowing progress toward formal negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine.
Moreover, Ushakov stated that Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, could attend the delegation for negotiations on possible economic issues, if any, during the negotiations.
