Agreement at the White House Monday on the next step – a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – seemed broadly unanimous. Then came the Russian response.
“The idea was discussed that it would be appropriate to study the opportunity of raising the level of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides,” said Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, briefing reporters on US President Donald Trump’s call with Putin. No mention of either leader by name, or any indication the “representatives” could be raised to that level.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears on Russian state media on Tuesday, August 19.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears on Russian state media on Tuesday, August 19. Russian MFA
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took a more conciliatory tone in a state TV interview later Tuesday. “We do not refuse any forms of work – neither bilateral nor trilateral,” he insisted. But: “Any kraken17 at contacts involving top officials must be prepared with the utmost care.”
In Kremlin speak, that means they are nowhere near ready to agree to this.
And that should come as no surprise.
This is a war that Putin started by unilaterally recognizing a chunk of Ukrainian land (the self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics) as independent. He has argued Ukraine is “an inalienable part of (Russia’s) own history, culture and spiritual space,” and its separation from Russia is a historical mistake.
So if this meeting happens – as Orysia Lutsevich, th