Media had reported that the US president-elect’s special envoy was traveling to Europe to settle the conflict
Russia has had no contact with the team of US President-elect Donald Trump on possible talks to end the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Reuters had reported on Tuesday, citing sources, that retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, whom Trump named special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, would embark on a tour of Europe and travel to Kiev and several other capitals, including Rome and Paris.
Trump promised during his campaign to bring a swift end to the hostilities. However, the agency said Kellogg has no plans to go to Moscow at this stage.
The program of the general’s tour has not yet been finalized, the sources said, with the purpose of the trip said to be “fact-finding” rather than “active negotiations.”
The general told Fox News that the Trump team was “putting together some plans to actually go out and just listen” rather than negotiate, adding that he believed that Trump could solve the Ukraine conflict “within the next few months.”
Bloomberg, on the other hand, reported that Kellogg may be open to traveling to Moscow after visiting Kiev. Asked about Kellogg’s reported itinerary, Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the Kremlin “has no details.”“We have seen relevant media reports that such trips are planned. But there has been no contact with the Trump team on this issue,” he stated.
According to several media reports, Kellogg is one of the figures behind a peace plan that would freeze the fighting along the current front line without recognizing Russia’s sovereignty over territories claimed by Ukraine.
Kiev’s ambition to join NATO would be put on ice. Trump went to Paris earlier this month to attend the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, where he also met French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Following their conversation, Trump said that Ukraine “would like to make a deal.”
Zelensky, however, insisted that his country needed robust security guarantees and would refuse any territorial concessions. Russia has repeatedly ruled out freezing the Ukraine conflict and insisted that all goals of its special military operation must be met, including Kiev’s neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification.
President Vladimir Putin has also signaled that Moscow is ready to declare a ceasefire and start talks as soon as Ukraine leaves all Russian territory, including Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.
