Kontak diplomatik Ris-Ameriken kontinye

A week after the video call between Presidents Putin and Biden on 7 December, Washington sent Dr. Karen Donfried, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs of the US State Department, to Moscow. Before her arrival in Russia, Dr. Karen Donfied visited Kyiv, where she met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kuleba, ekri Alexi Ivanov, Korespondan Moskou.

Moscow regarded this visit as a development of the understandings that Putin and Biden reached during their recent conversation.

According to the US State Department, Karen Donfried intends to "meet with senior government officials to discuss Russia's military buildup and strengthen the commitment of the United States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine”" and also emphasize that America “can make diplomatic progress in ending the conflict in the Donbass through the implementation of the Minsk Agreements in support of the Normandy format."

In the Russian capital and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular, the arrival of the high-ranking American envoy was perceived as a good opportunity to once again explain Russia's well-known concerns about NATO policy near the Russian borders, primarily in connection with the West's “hype” (as many Russian media call it) around Ukraine.

As the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in its official comments, "during the talks, Karen Donfried discussed with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov the situation in Ukraine and Russia's security guarantees."

Many Russian media report that Karen Donfried left the Russian Foreign Ministry building without comment, having spent only 40 minutes with her Russian counterpart.

Analysts perceive this situation as the clear indication proving that the parties during their first contact of this kind wanted to convey their points of view to each other. At the same time, it is obvious that neither the Americans nor the Russians are ready at the moment for a more detailed discussion of the issues outlined. At least, Moscow has no doubt that before starting concrete negotiations with Moscow, the Americans need to work out all sensitive issues with their allies in the Alliance. Dr.Karen Donfried left Moscow heading directly to Brussels for further consultations with NATO partners.

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Earlier, the State Department explained that the purpose of the Assistant Secretary of State's working trip to Kyiv, Moscow and Brussels will be meetings with government officials to discuss "Russia's military buildup and strengthening of US commitments regarding Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."

The State Department also noted that during the talks, Donfried would emphasize the possibility of achieving diplomatic progress in resolving the conflict in the Donbass through the implementation of the Minsk agreements with the support of the Normandy format.

After the meeting between Karen Donfried and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak (in charge of the Donbass dossier), it was stressed that “the parties agreed to continue the dialogue on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements”.

"The parties agreed to continue cooperation on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, taking into account the position stated by US President Joe Biden at the Geneva summit on the need to provide Donbass with a special status to end the conflict," Russian media reported.

The meeting of Dmitry Kozak and Karen Donfried was also held in Moscow on December 15 and lasted more than two hours. Experts perceived such a thorough dialogue as evidence of Washington's interest in understanding the situation around Donbass and Kyiv’s implementation of the Minsk agreements, which corresponds to statements made earlier by the White House.

On December 7, the leaders of Russia and the United States held talks behind closed doors. Following their results, the White House reported that Joe Biden expressed concern about the development of the Ukrainian crisis and called for its diplomatic settlement.

Putin, in turn, informed his American counterpart about Ukraine's non-compliance with the Minsk agreements and sabotage of the agreements, and also noted that it is NATO that is making dangerous attempts to develop Ukrainian territory and is building up military potential near Russian borders.

The next day, Biden announced that Washington would discuss Moscow's concerns about the expansion of the alliance at a high level with its main NATO allies. The meeting parameters are being worked out.

The Russian Foreign Ministry later said that they insist on developing security guarantees in a specific period of time. Russian diplomats have already made a comprehensive proposal in preparation for a new round of strategic stability dialogue with the United States.

Moscow also reported that aides to the presidents of Russia and the United States, Yuri Ushakov and Jake Sullivan, held a telephone conversation in which they discussed the situation around Ukraine and called for resolving security issues through diplomatic means. This was announced by the White House. It is noted that the conversation took place in the development of the dialogue between the Russian and American leaders.

The very next day after Karen Donfried left Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the Russian side was ready to hold consultations with NATO in "any neutral country." This was stated by the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov.

A day earlier, during a telephone conversation, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov gave US presidential adviser Jake Sullivan an explanation on security guarantees that had previously been transmitted through diplomatic channels to the American side, and brought information to Sullivan about Russia's readiness to immediately begin negotiations on the drafts of these documents.

According to the press secretary of the President of Russia, the negotiations on behalf of the Russian side will be conducted by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"He will be ready to fly to any neutral country at any time to start negotiations," the Kremlin spokesman said.

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