You're reading: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry: Volker, Surkov to meet soon

The United States special representative to Ukraine and Kremlin’s point man Vladislav Surkov will meet in the coming days, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said at a press briefing on Jan. 22.

He didn’t provide any further details on the exact date or location, but Russian media outlet Kommersant named a tentative date of the meeting – Jan. 26 – citing a source in Washington. However, plans may change due to the U.S. government shutdown.

On Jan. 19, the U.S. Senate failed to agree on a budget bill to fund the government, which forced many federal agencies to temporarily suspend their work.

Volker and Surkov met three times in the past, most recently in November, in Serbian capital of Belgrade.

So far their discussions have yielded no results to end Russia’s war in the Donbas that has killed more than 10,000 people in four years. Volker said many times that his primary task as the U.S. special envoy was to catalyze the implementation of stalled 2015 Minsk peace accord.

Last week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev suggested moving Ukraine peace talks from Minsk to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. In his words, the idea came from the U.S. President Donald Trump, who said the talks reached a deadlock and suggested changing the location.

Astana already hosts peace talks on Syria, but it is unlikely Ukraine negotiations will move there too, Klimkin said on Jan. 22.

“The problem with the Minsk platform is caused by the Russian side. It is the problem of unwillingness to follow commitments and twist all agreements,” he said. “I don’t see how relocation from Minsk to Astana would bring us new, positive results.”

No agreement has been reached in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow over the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the Donbas since Russian President Vladimir Putin first spoke of it last September.

“Last time we talked with Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, the dialogue was very difficult. At the moment we are still far from each other in terms of our goals,” Klimkin said.

As of the end of 2017, Ukraine denounced 35 various government agreements with Russia. Eight more are in the pipeline.