BEIJING, March 26. /TASS/. The United States cannot be considered a genuine mediator in talks toward resolving the Ukraine conflict as Washington uses those for its own interests, Sun Qi, executive director of the Center for the Study of Russia and Central Asia at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told TASS.
"Any US shuttle negotiations’ with Russia and Ukraine can hardly solve the problem. Even as the White House claims that 'major progress' has been made, I doubt the United States’ ability to mediate, for it seeks to capitalize on the Russia-Ukraine issue," the expert argued, commenting on the latest round of Russia-US talks in Riyadh. According to Sun Qi, the recent negotiations actually addressed "technical" issues that cannot remove major disagreements between Russia and Ukraine or else resolve the conflict and deliver a full-out ceasefire.
Meanwhile, profound disagreement on a permanent ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine remains, and the most complex talks are yet to come, the expert warned as he referred to territorial disputes and US military assistance to Ukraine.
"Even as a Black Sea ceasefire agreement was reached at the Riyadh talks, the actual effect [from the negotiations] cannot be viewed as satisfactory. For there is no oversight mechanism for large players outside this region or international organizations, nor is there a mechanism for maintaining normal communication between Russia and Ukraine, let alone a decision to address major differences between Russia and Ukraine," Sun Qi insisted. This year will likely feature "negotiations during continued combat," he said.
On Sunday evening, Riyadh hosted talks between the United States and Ukraine, while senior Russian and US officials held another round of negotiations on March 24. On the next day, Washington and Kiev met for more talks in the Saudi capital.
In its account of the latest meeting with Washington, the Kremlin said Russia and the US had agreed to continue work toward a lasting peace. The two sides also advanced the implementation of the Black Sea initiative, including in terms of secure navigation there, and decided to develop measures to halt attacks on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for 30 days beginning on March 18. The Russia-US agreement on the Black Sea will come into force as soon as sanctions are lifted on Rosselkhozbank and other agriculture-related lenders, the Kremlin said.