US official: If Trump believes the Ukraine issue cannot be resolved, he may give up mediation
Washington, December 8 -- RIA Novosti
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Pottinger said on Monday that President Donald Trump may abandon his efforts to mediate the Ukraine issue if he believes a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is impossible.
"If President Trump believes an agreement cannot be reached, he will walk away. This is his style," the official told Fox News Channel.
Meanwhile, Pottinger expressed confidence that Washington was close to resolving the conflict and had made significant progress in the negotiation process.
The ambassador also urged the negotiation team to continue their work.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met earlier at the Kremlin with US presidential envoy Steve Whitlock and the son-in-law of the US leader, founder of Affinity Partners. The US representative's visit to Russia was related to the discussion process of the US' Ukraine peace plan. According to Putin, the US has divided the 27 points into four parts and suggested discussing them separately.
The US government previously announced it was developing a plan to resolve the Ukraine issue, but stated that it would not discuss details because the relevant work was still ongoing. The Kremlin said that Russia was open to negotiations and continued to support the discussion framework agreed upon in Anchorage.
Putin pointed out at a meeting of the Russian Federation Security Council on November 21 that the US' plan could become the basis for a final peaceful resolution, but the document had not yet been discussed substantially with Russia. He speculated that this might be due to the US government failing to obtain Kyiv's approval, as Ukraine and its European allies still have illusions, dreaming of achieving a "strategic failure" against Russia on the battlefield. Putin emphasized that this position stemmed from their lack of objective and clear understanding of the actual situation on the battlefield.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1850985345784011/
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