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Biden feels sense of urgency to settle Ukraine issue before term ends — ex-British envoy

"There are pressures in the United States as well in the direction of fast-moving toward talks," Tony Brenton maintained

LONDON, August 1. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden wants to put the pedal to the metal to get a peace deal done on Ukraine, not wanting to pass the issue on to his successor, Anthony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, told TASS in an interview.

"The United States interests, which is also the UK interest - is in Ukraine should emerge from this war as successfully as possible," the former diplomat said. "That, to my mind, and I guess, to American minds, points in the direction of early talks, I'm sure the Americans understand that," he added.

"The problem is, of course, that the United States has an election of its own in November this year. I suspect, actually, the Biden administration will be quite keen not to hand this issue on to Donald Trump <…>, because Donald Trump, of course, would be much less sympathetic to Ukraine than Joe Biden. There are pressures in the United States as well in the direction of fast-moving toward talks. And I hope that they will act according to those pressures," Brenton maintained.

The US presidential election is slated for November 5. Biden was supposed to represent the Democrats at the election but decided to drop out of the race after mounting calls from his party following his poor performance in the debate with Republican Donald Trump in June. On July 21, Biden announced a decision to end his re-election bid and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.