Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is seeking clarification on the US role in trying to end the war in Ukraine. In written answers to media questions, Lavrov escalated an argument with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about whether presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had reached an understanding on the outlines of a peace deal when they met in Alaska last year.
Disagreement Over Peace Deal
Russia says there was indeed such an understanding, which it has often referred to as ‘the spirit of Anchorage’. However, Rubio denied that any agreement was reached, stating that ‘there was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement in Alaska. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end of the war’.
Lavrov laid out the most detailed version yet of what took place at the summit last August. He said Putin went through a series of US proposals that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had brought to Moscow days earlier, listing them point by point and checking with Witkoff that he had noted them correctly.
Lavrov added that the ‘entire situation’ around the US role needed to be clarified. Critical comments by Lavrov and other Russian officials this week point to a shift in Moscow’s appraisal of Washington’s efforts to end the Ukraine war, which have stalled since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran in February.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
