WASHINGTON, June 17. /TASS/. The Trump administration has dissolved an inter-agency working group that was set up to create a strategy to pressure Russia into engaging in peace talks on settling the conflict in Ukraine, Reuters said, citing unnamed US officials.

According to the agency’s sources, the group was established this spring but suspended its activity in May when it became clear to its members that the US president was reluctant to plunge into confrontation with Moscow. Amid Trump’s doubts about the expediency of the United States’ further engagement in the settlement efforts in Ukraine, the working group lost its relevance, the officials said.

They also noted that the group’s activities were coordinated by high-ranking officials from the US National Security Council (NSC), many of whom have since been dismissed. It also included officials from the Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Pentagon, and intel agencies. One notable member of the group was Andrew Peek, the former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, who vacated his office in May.

Earlier, Trump said on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada that he is reluctant to tighten sanctions on Russia, and hopes that a deal on Ukraine can be reached soon, since the anti-Russian restrictions cost the collective West billions of dollars. He also called it a "big mistake" that the West had abandoned the Group of Eight format that included Russia.