Significant progress regarding the release of hostages is possible after establishing direct contact between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
This was stated by the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker in an interview with Ukrainian Tyzhden.
Volker was asked if the Viktor Medvedchuk’s efforts, who is trying to become an intermediary or negotiator between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the process of exchanging prisoners, are an obstacle or help.
“In order to reach an agreement, direct contact between the Ukrainian and Russian governments is needed. Of course, there is support from the United States and partners in the Norman format. But there must be direct contact. A telephone conversation recently took place between Presidents Putin and Zelensky, and I believe that this step helped the Norman format meeting in Paris, and then the negotiations in Minsk. That is how it should be. I don’t think that participation of third-party players can help here,” the American diplomat emphasized.
“Establishing direct contact between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia, between their representatives, in order to agree on the further development of events, is a sure way to achieve a positive result,” the US special representative said.
At the same time, Volker expressed regret that “Russia did not show any signs that it plans to free the Ukrainian sailors, attacked and captured in international waters.”
“Moscow once again delays consideration of this lawsuit in order to keep them (sailors) in custody further. First, the trial was scheduled on April, then on July, and now it has already been postponed to October. It is unacceptable. And this is really a lost opportunity for Russia, since it was possible to increase the momentum in the matter of the prisoners exchange and establishment of peace,” the special representative emphasized.
As The Journalist reported, UOC-MP takes lead in prisoners exchange, release of prisoners.
Подписывайтесь на telegram-канал journalist.today
