Russia Admits the United States Can Join the Donbass Talks

The United States should form a "more dimensional and calm" approach to all that is taking place in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry says. Russia admits the possibility of the United States joining the talks on Donbass. This was stated by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov in an interview with the International Affairs journal on Tuesday, July 6. According to him, the summit of the U.S. and Russian presidents did not clarify this issue. "Different options may exist in this regard. Everything depends on the person that the US side will appoint as the chief coordinator of these efforts. There is no clarity on that point so far," Ryabkov said. The deputy minister claims that the United States does not reckon with Russia's approaches to the Ukrainian settlement, and it is hard to imagine a constructive US contribution to the Minsk talks. "For our part, we do not rule out anything. Everything depends on whether the Americans will succeed in shaping a more dimensional, substantive, sober, calm and responsible approach to all that is taking place in Donbass and around Ukraine as a whole," Ryabkov summed up. Recall that Ukraine has repeatedly called for the United States joining the Donbass talks, in particular the Normandy format, since, as was stated by the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG Leonid Kravchuk, Germany and France lack firm, consistent and systemic approach in negotiations with the Russian Federation. However, this idea is opposed by Russia.