WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2018) US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker said Monday he believed that US actions could not force Russia to change its position with regard to Ukraine.
"What we have not done is cause Russia to change its position," Volker said, speaking a Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) forum.
Volker stressed that Russia had failed to achieve its strategic goal, and the best solution for achieving them would be to get out of the conflict, but Moscow was not ready for this.
According to Volker, "Russia still believes that it gets an advantage out of being there."
Regardless of the outcome of the elections in Ukraine, no politicians will make concessions to Russia, Volker said.
"Now Russia is looking at the Ukrainian elections coming up, for the presidency in March, and for the parliament next fall, wanting to it out, to see what happens. It knows it's not going to get any concession ... from the current government. So it [Russia] is willing to wait it out to see what happens with the next government," Volker said.
Ukraine has changed so much that no politician in Ukraine will be able to make any concessions to Russia, he stressed.
Volker told Sputnik on the sidelines of the CEPA event that he expects that his meeting with Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov will take place this fall, although the dates have not yet been chosen.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that such a meeting was planned in the foreseeable future.
Kiev, as well as Washington and other Western states, have repeatedly accused Moscow of involvement in the Ukraine crisis, including the military conflict in eastern region of Donbas and Crimea's reunification with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied any interference in the crisis, saying that it was not a party to this internal conflict and Crimea rejoined Russia as a result of the legitimate referendum.
In April 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas region which refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceived to be a coup. The conflicting sides signed the Minsk peace accords in February 2015 to end the fighting in the crisis-torn region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.
