Volker: Talks with Russia may be resumed after presidential election

21.03.2019 11:10

Ukrinform

The next round of talks between U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Russian president’s aide Vladislav Surkov or another representative of Russian authorities may be held after the presidential election in Ukraine.

Volker made a corresponding statement on Wednesday after his speech at the conference "Support for Free Democratic Development of Ukraine" at the U.S. Congress.

"No, they haven’t," Volker said, answering a question of an Ukrinform correspondent whether any agreements have been reached on the next meeting with a representative of the Russian side.

"We continue to maintain contact with the diplomatic channels, and I hope that Russia will be ready to meet again shortly after the election [in Ukraine]," Kurt Volker noted.

As a reminder, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has already held four meetings with Russian president’s aide Vladislav Surkov: in Minsk in August 2017, in Belgrade in October and November 2017, and in Dubai in January 2018. After that, it was planned to hold the next meeting during the last year, but the Russian side refused to meet.

At the last meeting in Dubai, the representatives of Washington put forward the proposals for the deployment of UN peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine. Moscow promised to respond to these proposals, however, it has not given any official answer yet.

Russia is still blocking any initiatives to strengthen international monitoring in the occupied territories of Ukraine.