Russia-US contacts on Ukraine continue ‘informally, confidentially,’ says Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that contacts between Moscow and Washington on Ukraine are continuing “informally and confidentially.”

“(Kremlin spokesman) Dmitry Peskov has spoken about this repeatedly. Our contacts on the Ukrainian issue continue informally and confidentially,” Lavrov told journalists.

Expressing that Russia has not seen any particular prospects for resuming dialogue for a long time, Lavrov said US envoys are currently occupied with other matters.

“And since they (the US) have a single team of mediators for all areas of foreign policy, a certain pause has arisen,” Lavrov further said.

Earlier this week, Peskov told a press briefing that Russia and Ukraine continue to communicate with the US through their own channels and exchange information.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have attributed the pause in Russia-Ukraine peace talks to the US focus on Iran.

Russia, Ukraine, and the US previously held three rounds of peace talks on Jan 23-24, Feb 4-5, and Feb 17-18. The first two were in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.