MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. The current US administration is more realistic about the settlement in Ukraine, including the special status of Donbass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The Donald Trump administration previously appointed a special representative for Ukrainian settlement, Lavrov said after talks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. The representative worked independently of the Normandy Format and the Contact Group, the minister said.
"He had peculiar views on who has to do what, and these views, honestly, contradicted the content of the Minsk package of measures," Lavrov said. "We have reasons to believe that the current administration views the situation around the Ukrainian settlement in a more realistic way."
"In particular, it acknowledges that the problem of the special status of Donbass needs to be resolved first," the minister said.
As soon as there’s clarity about the powers that should be granted to the governments in Donetsk and Lugansk in accordance with the Minsk accords, Lavrov said, it will be easier to make progress with the other issues. He said Kiev is trying to sidestep the political aspects of the Minsk agreements and focus instead on issues of secondary importance.
Lavrov said Russia will welcome US efforts to help the settlement in Ukraine, as the US has enormous influence over the government in Kiev.