WASHINGTON, May 22. /TASS/. The US will decide on its next moves about Moscow and Kiev after perusing the memorandum that Russia is preparing to lay out a vision of a settlement in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a hearing at the House Committee on Appropriations.
"The Russians are supposed to produce a document - or a memorandum of peace, as they've called it, in the next few days - that will outline what they will require for a ceasefire - that could then lead to a broader negotiation and then a final settlement," he said. "We'll learn a lot from what that memorandum of peace contains. If it's reasonable, then I think we've made progress. If it's not, then I think we're not any closer here, and the president will have options available to him. Let's hope it's the former, not the latter."
"The president's also been clear, and we've been clear with the Russian side: Number one, that the president retains sanctions authorities that he has not yet used," Rubio went on to say. "There's a congressional effort to impose sanctions, which at some point in time, Congress will lose its patience with the pace of advances on a peace deal, and may very well impose sanctions that, in some ways, are even more crippling than what the president could do on his own."
Putin-Trump talks
The conversation between Putin and Trump lasted more than two hours on Monday, as they mostly discussed ways to settle the conflict in Ukraine.
Following the call, Putin said that he had started by thanking Trump for the US support in resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. According to the Russian president, Moscow is ready to work with Kiev on a memorandum that would address settlement principles, a possible timeline for reaching a peace deal, and a potential ceasefire. Russia sees eliminating the root causes of the crisis as a priority, he said.