Bruce Dayton, a professor at the School of International Education in Vermont, expressed the opinion that the United States should use former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to establish informal contacts with Russia.
About it writes The Hill.
In his opinion, Merkel is considered the main candidate for participation in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as she has experience in communicating with him and freedom of manoeuvre due to the lack of direct ties with the current government of Germany.
Dayton added that the West needs to be more active in informal negotiations with Russia over the Ukrainian conflict, the role of informal mediators could be fulfilled by former politicians or transnational corporations.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the West, when talking about negotiations, wants to give Ukraine a break.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey was ready to provide a platform in Istanbul again if Russia and Ukraine wanted to finalise the interrupted talks.