US President Donald Trump's administration intends to reach an agreement with Moscow on resolving the crisis in Ukraine. Preliminary work to start negotiations is already underway. However, the US legislators can cut the initiative.
White House seriously interested in the opportunity to direct the situation in Ukraine on a peaceful course. According to The Washington Post, which the newspaper received from sources in the government, the initiative is promoted by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "Tillerson's idea is to restart the type of peace talks in which the Obama administration took part in 2016, in the hope that new circumstances and personalities will give the best result," writes the publication.
According to the media, the US Secretary of State has already discussed this issue with the head of the foreign policy department of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. It is known, in particular, that Tillerson plans to appoint a special envoy from the State Department for the concrete implementation of this idea. It is assumed that this person will negotiate with the presidential aide Vladislav Surkov. Previously, this function was assigned to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. However, she did not succeed in developing a common language with the Russian side.
This time the initiative of the State Department has more chances for success, because while Washington does not take a pronounced pro-Kiev position. However, US lawmakers may prevent the peace program. In particular, the Senate investigation of Moscow's interference in the presidential elections in the US in 2016. Can seriously complicate the negotiations, the newspaper acknowledges.
Even before its end, the congressmen - and among them representatives of both the Republican Party and the Democrats - insist on strengthening anti-Russian sanctions. On the other hand, any deals of the White House with the Kremlin will be perceived with hostility by numerous opponents of Donald Trump.
However, according to the ubiquitous US media, the process of inter-ministerial consultations has already been launched - on the part of the United States, they also include the staff of Vice President Michael Pensa.