U.S., Russia silent after Belgrade meeting on Ukraine
9 October 2017
U.S. special envoy
for Ukraine Kurt Volker met with the Kremlin’s point man on Ukraine, Vladislav
Surkov, in Belgrade,
Serbia,
on Oct.
7. It was the second meeting of the two men tasked with forging an end to the
armed conflict in eastern Donbas.
RFE/RL reports that Belgrade was chosen
as the site of the meeting as Volker had refused to meet in Russia and Surkov
could not go to the EU due to Ukraine-related sanctions.
The meeting comes
after Russian president Vladimir Putin put forward a suggestion that UN
peacekeepers be utilized in the conflict, as had been recommended by Ukraine
for some time already. However, no details of this meeting have been released.
James Hydzik: Very little
was expected of the Belgrade meeting, as Putin’s UN peacekeeping proposal
changed little on the ground. The extent of the differences between the Russian
proposal and the previous Ukrainian ones were the subject of an Oct. 7 article
in The Economist, which echoes our position that despite Putin’s desire to pull
out of Ukraine, there is little he can do without seriously damaging his own
fortunes, and there is little impetus on any side for a major change from the
status quo.
was expected of the Belgrade meeting, as Putin’s UN peacekeeping proposal
changed little on the ground. The extent of the differences between the Russian
proposal and the previous Ukrainian ones were the subject of an Oct. 7 article
in The Economist, which echoes our position that despite Putin’s desire to pull
out of Ukraine, there is little he can do without seriously damaging his own
fortunes, and there is little impetus on any side for a major change from the
status quo.
