A breakthrough in negotiations to end the “Ukrainian conflict” is possible only if the positions agreed at the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, are observed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Monday, February 9.
“It is obvious that the understandings reached in Anchorage are fundamental, and it is precisely these understandings that can move the settlement process forward and make a breakthrough possible,” he said.
Asked about the current status of those understandings, Peskov said “the work continues.”
He did not elaborate on what he means by the “spirit of Anchorage” and stressed that, as before, the Kremlin believes talks should be conducted behind closed doors in the interests of a settlement. He noted that these “understandings” were voiced ahead of the Anchorage summit.
Peskov was responding to a question about whether Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement—that the United States is unwilling to accept Russia’s proposals on Ukraine—means the “spirit of Anchorage” is already dead.
Earlier Monday, Lavrov said the United States is no longer ready to follow through on what he claimed were its proposals on Ukraine made in Anchorage.
“By accepting their proposal, we supposedly fulfilled the task of resolving the Ukrainian issue and moving on to full-scale, broad, mutually beneficial cooperation. So far, in practice, the opposite is true: new sanctions are being introduced, and a ‘war’ is being waged against tankers on the high seas, violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Lavrov said in an interview with the international TV BRICS network.
Moscow earlier said that work on a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine would take at least a month and a half even under favorable negotiating conditions.
Meanwhile, Kyiv said the latest talks in Abu Dhabi addressed methods for implementing a ceasefire and monitoring a halt in hostilities.
