Moscow, Russia. In the secret world of diplomacy one never knows what the ending of a situation is until the ink is dry on the agreement, in the latest moves over Donbass, it is truly an uknown; until now. Ukraine is the next item up for negotiation on “the price is right,” between Tillerson and Lavrov that is.
The Russian Federation intends to step up it’s dialogue with the US on the settlement of the situation in Donbass, as reported by Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia,Sergei Ryabkov.
According to him, Russia expects that soon the US will appoint someone in the State Department as a special envoy on the subject. First, a successor to Victoria Nuland, who was involved in the Ukraine issue under Barack Obama,needs to be appointed. Only then will a substantive discussion of the settling of the Ukraine issue with the United States be possible, Ryabkov announced.
No change is seen in the role of the main negotiator from Russia.This will remain the president’s assistant Vladislav Surkov. According to experts and politicians in the United States, “US President Donald Trump is ready to make compromises in Ukraine in exchange for concessions from Russia on other issues.”
Ryabkov explained that “the bilateral dialogue on Ukraine will not be a substitute for the Normandy format; on the contrary, it will help to implement the Minsk agreements.” This will no doubt come as interesting news in the Donbass Republics, where a number of integration initiatives are underway way, the stated goal being integration with the Russian Federation.