Russia is willing to work with President-elect Trump to help improve relations with Ukraine so long as the U.S. makes the first move, Kremlin officials said this week, adding fresh momentum for the possibility of peace talks as its war in Ukraine threatens to stretch into a third year.
Speaking to reporters Thursday in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Russia could be ready to come to the negotiating table regarding its “special military operation” in Ukraine — echoing the phrasing used by the Kremlin to describe its war in Ukraine — so long as the U.S. acted first.
“If the signals that are coming from the new team in Washington to restore the dialogue that Washington interrupted after the start of a special military operation [the war in Ukraine] are serious, of course, we will respond to them,” Lavrov said in Moscow.
But he stressed that the U.S. should move first, telling reporters that “the Americans broke the dialogue, so they should make the first move.”
His remarks come after Trump’s pick for Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News in an interview this month that both Russia and Ukraine appear to be willing