WASHINGTON, May 31. /TASS/. The United States may pressure the Kiev regime to participate in the June 2 talks with Russia in Istanbul, even if Moscow does not provide the memorandum requested by Ukraine in advance, The Washington Post reported.
According to the newspaper, the deadlock the parties have reached in agreeing on terms to resolve the Ukrainian conflict has put the Kiev authorities in an awkward diplomatic position.
The newspaper pointed out that Ukraine has little room to maneuver due to its dependence on US military and intelligence assistance. Against this backdrop, Washington has the opportunity to pressure Kiev to disregard its demands, including Russia providing a memorandum beforehand and a ceasefire without preconditions, and to send a delegation to the Istanbul talks scheduled for June 2.
Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who is leading the Ukrainian delegation in the talks, said Kiev is "not opposed" to meeting with the Russian side but is waiting for a memorandum from Moscow before beginning negotiations. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Ukraine's demand to "immediately hand over the memorandum" unconstructive. He emphasized that the main thing now is to continue the process of direct negotiations.
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow was ready for the second round of negotiations with Kiev, which is scheduled to take place in Istanbul on June 2. Lavrov said that the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, would present Ukraine with a Russian memorandum on eliminating the root causes of the crisis.
The previous round of negotiations took place on May 16 and resulted in agreements to exchange prisoners on the "1,000 for 1,000" basis and to present their vision of a potential future ceasefire. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the meeting's outcome.