A group of former top US national security officials have held secret talks with senior Russian officials believed to be close to the Kremlin, including at least one of the country’s top diplomats, with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, according to six people familiar with the discussions. for NBC News, USA.
The network quoted, in a report today, Thursday, quoting four former officials and current officials, that the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, met the members of the group for several hours, in April, in New York, in a meeting that the network described as a kind of “back-channel diplomacy.”
On the agenda for the April meeting were some thorny issues about the war in Ukraine, such as the fate of Russian-controlled territories that Kiev may never be able to liberate, and the search for a diplomatic solution acceptable to both sides.
The network added, quoting these officials, that Richard Haass, a former diplomat and outgoing president of the Council on Foreign Relations, sat down with Lavrov. Joining the group are Europe expert Charles Kupchan and Russia expert Thomas Graham, both former White House and State Department officials and fellows of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The former US officials did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News or declined to comment on the report. All sources declined to be named to confirm the talks, which were meant to be kept secret.
One of the goals, they said, was to keep channels of communication with Russia open wherever possible.
Two sources told the network that the discussions took place with the knowledge of President Joe Biden’s administration, but not at its direction, as the former officials participating in the Lavrov meeting then briefed the National Security Council at the White House on what happened.
NBC said in its report that these discussions, known in diplomatic parlance as “track two,” come at a time when official high-level diplomatic meetings between the US and Russian governments on Ukraine have been few and far between.
And she added, it is not clear how many times the back-channel discussions took place, nor whether they were part of a single organized effort, but on the American side, the discussions included some former Pentagon officials, including Mary Beth Long, a former US Assistant Secretary of Defense with a Deep experience in NATO issues, according to two people briefed on the talks.
As part of the effort, at least one former US official has traveled to Russia for discussions related to the Ukraine war, two of the former officials told the network.
In addition to Lavrov, the discussions on the Russian side, according to the network, included academics and leaders from major think tanks or research institutes and others in the field of Russian foreign policy who are seen as enjoying the permission of President Vladimir Putin or in regular contact with decision-makers in the Kremlin. The former officials declined to identify the Russian participants by name, citing concerns for their safety.
A spokesman for the White House National Security Council declined to comment. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
An official in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said they would not comment on specific news reports based on unnamed sources, but their general position remained the same: “Our position has not changed, the fate of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.” About it. Not anonymously, but privately and publicly.”
The talks come amid growing indications that the United States and its allies are keen to see Moscow and Kiev move toward peace talks in the fall, after completing the ongoing counteroffensive in Ukraine.
During a secret trip to Kiev in May, CIA Director William Burns heard from Ukrainian officials about possibly pushing Moscow into peace talks by the end of the year, officials told The Washington Post.
Next week, Biden will meet in Lithuania with fellow NATO leaders, who indicate they are still not ready to accept Ukraine into the alliance. And the approach of the US presidential elections next year has raised the urgency for an end to the war amid fears that the Republicans will reduce support for Ukraine.
The Lavrov meeting took place in April, during a rare and short visit by the Russian diplomat to the United States to preside over the UN Security Council, which Russia assumed the rotating presidency.
The main question, according to the report, is whether former US officials will continue the talks after last month’s armed rebellion against Putin’s government by Wagner’s mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, which shook the image of power and influence in Moscow. Also, the discussions took place in parallel with the direct US-Russian talks about the American journalist detained in Russia, Ivan Gershkovich, which was revealed by Putin’s spokesman this week.
A question arises about US officials continuing their talks with the Russians after the Wagner rebellion (Associated Press)
The Kremlin said on June 24 that Prigozhin, who sent his fighters to oust military leaders in Moscow, would leave for Belarus and a criminal case against him would be dropped, as part of a deal to avoid “bloodshed”.
A “second track” without Ukraine
The network’s report goes that “track two talks” have always played an important role in US diplomacy, including arms control, and often provide a less formal opportunity to test ideas and responses in parallel with official talks between governments.
In 1994, former President Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang as an ordinary citizen with the aim of stopping North Korea’s nuclear program, a trip that caused a huge headache.
Source : almasdaronline