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Russian, US experts on Ukraine had clandestine meeting in neutral country — diplomat

Maria Zakharova also pointed out that the ministry receives information on the content of such consultations, albeit it does not consider them reasonable at the current stage of the special military operation, "considering the knowingly anti-Russian bias of participants from the United States and other unfriendly states"

MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. A Russian-American "second-track" meeting - meaning a meeting of two countries’ experts on Ukraine - took place in a third country a while ago, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing.

"A 'second-track' contact, which means cooperation at the level of political experts and other representatives of academia, indeed took place a while ago. They took place in a third country," the diplomat noted.

She also pointed out that the ministry receives information on the content of such consultations, albeit it does not consider them reasonable at the current stage of the special military operation, "considering the knowingly anti-Russian bias of participants from the United States and other unfriendly states."

"The Russian Foreign Ministry does not consider such contacts beneficial in the current atmosphere, but we are also not entitled to restrain the communication of Russian political experts with foreign counterparts. Russia is a free country. However, from the standpoint of national interests, participation in such events usually has no added value," she concluded.

Previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow and Washington had a behind-the-scenes "second-track" meeting, during which representatives of the expert community discussed the Ukrainian issue.

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