Ryabkov Maintains U.S.-Russian Diplomacy over Donbas Is in the Past

April 6 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS that Moscow and Washington have held diplomatic talks over the situation in the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. “We had contacts with the U.S. administration in Donbas. We have exhaustively conveyed what is going on to the U.S. side,” TASS reported his remarks. Warning that Ukraine and the United States are coordinating an aggressive policy in the area, Ryabkov said, “Washington must be concerned by the consequences of this coordinated policy. I see no point in going back to this topic.”

On April 5, a U.S. Department of State representative had stated that Washington is open for interaction with Moscow on the situation in eastern Ukraine, and urged Russia “to refrain from action that could lead to an escalation.”

Meanwhile, sources in Moscow have told TASS that Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov will not be returning to Washington anytime soon. “It is too early to speak about specific dates for the return of Ambassador Antonov to Washington. Fundamentally, everything depends here on the American side that must do at least something towards the normalization of relations,” an unnamed source said, and that “so far it is too early to speak about them.”

Valery Garbuzov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, also told TASS that in his view both Russia and America are taking a wait-and-see attitude on how to proceed with bilateral relations, and that this is one reason why Antonov will not return to Washington soon. “One possible variant [in Russian-U.S. relations] is a kind of strategic waiting,” Garbuzov told TASS. “It is aimed at re-consideration of how the two sides found themselves in confrontation with each other and what must be done in order to come out of it. To simply stick to one’s guns means to change nothing and maintain this adversarial relationship.”

“All things considered, in order to introduce some changes in bilateral relations, it is necessary that both sides change something in their foreign political behavior; this is true for both Russia and the U.S.. They must make concessions, but neither side is ready right now,” Garbuzov said.