SOCHI, December 3. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed his intention to end the Ukrainian conflict, should back up his words with concrete actions aimed at restoring relations with Russia immediately upon taking office, Alexander Dynkin, the president of the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO), told TASS.

"The restoration of interstate relations could be the first step toward ending the Ukrainian conflict," he said, speaking at the St. Petersburg Dialogue forum. "What do I mean? The return of the seized properties of Russian diplomatic missions, which, of course, remain Russian property, and the resumption of direct air links."

Dynkin described these as "the first minimal but extremely necessary steps" for Washington. The expert stated that he had conveyed this idea to his US counterparts "both through public and non-public channels."

On November 27, Trump nominated 80-year-old Keith Kellogg for the position of his assistant and US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg favors a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. He hopes to persuade Moscow and Kiev to resume dialogue by freezing the current frontline. His plan, among other things, reportedly includes the phased lifting of sanctions and normalization of relations with Russia, provided Moscow agrees to a peace agreement, as well as a delay in considering Ukraine's NATO membership in exchange for security guarantees for Kiev.