MOSCOW – Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov will meet with United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker in Belgrade on Saturday.
“The meeting is planned in Serbia on October 7,” Center for Current Policy (CPP) Director Alexei Chesnakov told Interfax.
A source familiar with the situation had told Interfax earlier that the parties would concentrate on analyzing “mechanisms of primary stabilization” in Donbas.
“The most pressing issue is how to secure a steady truce so that people should not die and international organizations, such as the OSCE, could work in the conflict zone in a safe and stable manner. This should be the first step toward a tangible settlement of the situation in a peaceful way, be it UN ‘blue helmets’ or some other settlement mechanisms,” the source said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said earlier that Moscow did not expect any specific results from the meeting and believed that it was important primarily to Washington, so that it remained updated on the settlement process in Ukraine directly by the parties involved in the Minsk process.
“In this case, the negotiations are not aimed at achieving some particular result. This process is designed to synchronize positions, compare notes, and exchange firsthand information,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday.
“As is known, the U.S. is not a party to the Normandy format, it is not a guarantor of the Minsk Agreements. And yet it is surely important for Washington to receive what is called firsthand information from the countries involved in the Minsk process,” Peskov said.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Tefft had said earlier that Volker and Surkov might discuss a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas at their meting in early October.
Kurt Volker will meet with Vladislav Surkov in early October, and the U.S. deems it important to try to reach a mutual understanding on the mandate of a possible peacekeeping mission, Tefft said in his farewell interview with Kommersant.
Volker himself had told journalists in Kyiv earlier that he planned to discuss the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and security with Surkov.
Surkov and Volker had their first meeting in Minsk on August 21. Surkov then called the meeting useful and constructive, saying that “both parties proposed fresh ideas [on settling the conflict in Donbas] and innovative approaches toward their implementation.”
