"Thorough and constructive dialogue": Moscow summed up the results of the visit of the US Undersecretary of State

Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, said that Moscow and Washington agreed to continue consultations on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine, taking into account the coincidence of approaches to the special status of Donbass.

So he commented on the results of the meeting with the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who was on a visit to the Russian capital.

“During the talks, the position of the United States voiced in Geneva was confirmed that without agreeing on the future parameters of autonomy or, in other words, the special status of Donbass within Ukraine, significant progress in resolving the conflict is hardly possible.

Taking into account the coincidence of approaches on this principled position, we agreed to continue mutual consultations, ”TASS quoted him as saying.

According to Kozak, "a thorough and constructive dialogue regarding the settlement of the conflict in the south-east of Ukraine" took place with the American side.

The deputy head of the presidential administration noted that the meeting participants confirmed that the Minsk agreements remain the only basis for a settlement.

Recently, during a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of the countries noted the importance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements as an uncontested basis for a settlement.

The Russian leader then drew the attention of the German Chancellor and the French President that the Ukrainian authorities stubbornly evade fulfilling both their obligations on Minsk-2 and the agreements reached at previous summits in the Normandy format.

On Wednesday, October 13, during the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week forum, Putin also commented on Nuland's visit, answering the moderator's question about the current state of relations between Moscow and Washington.

“Now the Deputy Secretary of State is in Moscow.

She and her Russian colleagues are discussing our further contacts with President Biden.

So now we have quite constructive relations with the current administration, ”the president said.

During her visit to the Russian capital, which lasted from October 11 to 13, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also held talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Russian Presidential Assistant for International Affairs Yuri Ushakov.

According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, during this visit, "an inventory of problematic issues in relations with the United States" took place. On the air of the Zvezda TV channel, she noted: “There is some progress on some issues. Not a solution to these issues, not a solution to the problem, but there are some elements, progress. The most important thing is that Victoria took with her to Washington a rather long list of those issues that were identified by the Russian side for their speedy solution. "

Nuland herself positively assessed her visit.

On Twitter, the press secretary of the US Embassy in Moscow, Jason Rebholz, notes that the American side remains committed to a stable and predictable relationship with Russia.

Commenting on the meeting with Kozak, the Deputy Secretary of State confirmed that during the conversation a peaceful settlement in Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements were discussed.

Under Secretary Nuland: Very much appreciated the frank, productive review of US-Russia relations with Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Ushakov at the Kremlin this morning.

We remain committed to a stable, predictable relationship.

- Jason P. Rebholz (@USEmbRuPress) October 13, 2021

In turn, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov spoke about the importance of such visits.

“We are convinced that such contacts are timely and necessary.

It is important to speak, - emphasized Peskov.

- There is no need to complain that some breakthrough agreements are not immediately obtained, this is hardly possible.

The archives of our bilateral relations are too large, they cannot be raked up so quickly, but, of course, such contacts are needed. "

Issues of the functioning of embassies

Following the results of the October 12 talks between Sergei Ryabkov and Victoria Nuland, in which Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin also took part, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that the parties discussed the state and prospects of relations, paying special attention to issues related to the work of the foreign missions of Russia and the United States on the territory of each other. friend.

“On the Russian side, it was emphasized that hostile anti-Russian actions would not remain unanswered, but Moscow did not seek further escalation,” the ministry's press service said.

They also proposed to remove all restrictions imposed on both sides over the past few years.

In addition, Russian diplomats told the US Deputy Secretary of State that "the continuation of Washington's confrontational line in relation to the bilateral agenda and in the context of acute international and regional problems can only lead to further degradation of Russian-American relations."

As noted in the Foreign Ministry, instead, a realistic approach is required, which involves building relations on the basis of the principles of equality and mutual consideration of interests.

• RIA News

• © Vitaly Belousov

Strategic stability issues

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, issues of strategic stability were discussed at the talks with Victoria Nuland.

“We discussed in great detail the entire bilateral bloc.

This was the main focus.

Among the international topics in the foreground was the problem of strategic stability and the prospects for continuing work in this area, ”the diplomat was quoted by TASS as saying.

He noted that Nuland "nominally does not lead this topic," however, she "expressed several considerations", to which the Russian side reacted.

In addition, Ryabkov noted that the Russian side during the talks stressed that Moscow does not accept the American military presence in the Central Asian countries "in any form."

At the same time, Ryabkov expressed Russia's concern over the creation by Australia, Great Britain and the United States of the AUKUS defense alliance, within which the members of the association plan to deepen military and military-technical cooperation.

In particular, the Australian side announced that it should receive from the United States technologies for building nuclear submarines.

Ryabkov noted that Moscow intends to analyze this situation in light of the fact that Australia is a non-nuclear state with a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The deputy foreign minister also spoke on the issue of the United States' unwillingness to restore the number of the embassy in Russia.

According to him, in this area of ​​negotiations "there is least of all reasons for optimism."

“We do not feel the readiness of the Americans to restore the activities of their diplomatic presence in Russia at an acceptable level, that is, to rise to the ceiling that was set for them at 455 people a few years ago,” he said.

Ryabkov noted that instead of this, the American side continues to speculate on the alleged discrepancy in the numerical strength not in their favor.

He recalled that the United States "forgets or deliberately ignores" the fact that not only the Russian embassy and two consulates are located on American territory, but also the permanent mission to the UN.

As Ryabkov explained, the Russian side "brought the Americans back to reality on all these issues" and called for an agreement.

“Let's see what happens in the course of those consultations, which, we hope, will be carried out by our people and American representatives dealing with bilateral issues in a specialized manner, not putting it too far on the back burner,” he concluded.