Lengthy talks between the United States and Russia on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine have ended without agreement on Tuesday, Russian state news agency Interfax reported, pouring cold water on expectations that the two sides would be able to present some sort of joint statement after the marathon meeting.
Interfax quoted the first deputy chairman of the the Russian Federation Council’s Defence and Security Committee, Vladimir Chizhov, as telling state TV channel Rossiya-24 that the statement was “not adopted because of Ukraine’s position.”
“The fact that they sat for 12 hours and seemed to agree on a joint statement, which however was not adopted due to Ukraine’s position, is also very characteristic and symptomatic,” Chizhov told Russia-24, according to Interfax.
US and Russian diplomats had been widely expected to issue a joint statement on Tuesday morning. Such a statement would send a powerful signal that both Washington, DC and Moscow were serious about the ceasefire.
The US has not yet commented on the outcome of talks.
Russian and US officials met at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh on Monday, the same location where the US delegation met with Ukrainian officials on Sunday.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov described his meeting with President Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg on Sunday as “productive and focused.”
Credit: bbc.com
