Foreign policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Yuri Ushakov, on Monday said that Moscow and Washington had yet to agree on how to embark on Ukraine peace talks, stating that the US had not yet appointed a chief negotiator to talk to Russia.
Ushakov, along with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, is due to take part in bilateral talks with US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone last week and agreed to begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
It was gathered that the aim of the meeting was to discuss the restoration of normal relations (with the U.S.), to discuss the beginning of possible negotiations on Ukraine, and to discuss prospects for contacts at the highest level between Putin and Trump.
“Now the question is about agreeing on how to start negotiations on Ukraine because the American side hasn’t appointed a chief negotiator to conduct business with us,” Ushakov said.
According to him, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief, Kirill Dmitriev, might join the delegation to discuss any economic questions that might arise.
