Volker ready for contacts with Russian side, although he does not see its readiness to resolve Donbas conflict
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker once again stated that he would like to hold a meeting with the Russian side, noting that he does not yet see Moscow's desire to resolve the conflict in Donbas.
"I would like to meet with my Russian counterparts in the near future, but I do not know what form that will take at the moment. I am willing to meet with them to discuss a way forward [on resolving Donbas conflict], if Russia is serious about making progress," Volker's statement published on the Senate's website reads.
"We hope that Russia will finally choose peace [in Ukraine] and work with us to end the fighting," he added.
At the same time, Volker assured that the Russian Federation, unlike Ukraine, is not trying to implement the Minsk agreements. He also noted that the United States supports the work to solve the Ukrainian crisis in the Normandy format, at the level of the OSCE and the Trilateral Contact Group. "Unfortunately, Russia has been stalling and uninterested in progress for the past 18 months," he said.