MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Moscow is hopeful that Washington has started work to influence Kiev in order to prevent a standoff in Donbass, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at an online briefing on Friday.
"Let’s hope that some work is already underway. We would like to see more in terms of efforts to normalize the United States’ approach to this entire situation," he said, when asked if there was an understanding that the US was ready to influence hotheads in Kiev to avoid a tragedy.
Ryabkov added that he could not say what was going on in Kiev. "At least, I don’t see any signs that they [the Kiev authorities] have adopted a more reasonable approach to the situation," he said.
"However, there are certain platforms and we are open to holding dialogue on the issue, including with the US," the Russian deputy foreign minister stressed. "We are ready to talk with everyone in order to prevent Kiev from departing further from the Minsk Agreements, the Minsk Package of Measures, this should be the key goal for the so-called European guarantor countries who have actually sided with the Kiev regime in this regard, and our American colleagues, who are taking a certain interest in the issue," Ryabkov noted.
On Thursday, Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov told foreign military attaches at a briefing that tensions were rising in eastern Ukraine but any provocations that the Kiev authorities would stage to resolve the situation in Donbass by force would be thwarted.