Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in a meeting with mothers of Russia's servicemen participating in the military operation in Ukraine, ahead of Mother's Day at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on Nov. 25, 2022. On Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, Putin congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his win in the U.S. presidential election, and said he was ready to hold discussions with the incoming American leader. (Alexander Shcherbak/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Russia and the U.S. have had contact on the subject of the war in Ukraine via “closed channels” at the military and political levels, according to a top Russian foreign relations official.
“As for the situation in Ukraine, the exchange of signals via closed channels is periodically carried out,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news service published on Saturday. “This is done with varying degrees of intensity depending on the need, but all of this is in working order.”
Ryabkov confirmed that included contacts, when asked by Interfax. “It cannot be said that the communication lines are cut off and that there is no dial tone,” he said.
His comments underscore that Washington and Moscow maintain at least some interaction centered around Russia’s almost three-year-long war in Ukraine, even as relations between the two countries are at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War.
One of the few remaining areas of diplomatic cooperation has been prisoner exchanges. Ryabkov said that topic remains on the agenda for relations between Russia and the U.S.
“The last exchange showed that we can find effective solutions to even the most complex, complicated, multifaceted, problematic situations,” Ryabkov said. “But there remains no clarity” for how that will work or the schedule for such an exchange going forward.
A high-profile prisoner swap was made in early August, involving Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and others freed in exchange for a convicted Russian assassin who was serving a life sentence in Germany.
Ryabkov reiterated that diplomatic relations with the U.S. could still be completely severed if Russia’s frozen assets are confiscated, or if the war in Ukraine escalates. The diplomat also said there was currently no basis to resume negotiations on strategic stability or arms control.
On U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to quickly end the war in Ukraine, Ryabkov said they amounted to campaign rhetoric. Still, Moscow is ready to listen to the Republican’s proposals to stop the conflict, he said, echoing an earlier statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, Putin congratulated Trump on his win in the U.S. presidential election, and said he was ready to hold discussions with the incoming American leader. He gave no indication that he’s ready to make concessions to secure an end to the war he started in February 2022.
Putin has repeatedly said he’s willing to hold talks, while insisting that any negotiations take account of the realities on the ground since his forces invaded Ukraine and occupied large swathes of the country’s south and east.
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