A trilateral meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was proposed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe during his secret visit to Moscow earlier this week, in an effort to end the war, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Axios.
This was the first time John Ratcliffe had personally become involved in diplomatic efforts to achieve a significant breakthrough in relations between Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. website notes.
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One of the goals of Ratcliffe’s visit was to determine whether the heads of Russian intelligence agencies could persuade Putin to move toward resuming negotiationswith Ukraine, with U.S. mediation, the sources said.
On Friday, U.S. officials briefed Zelenskyy on Ratcliffe’s talks in Moscow and on the proposal for a trilateral summit.
The Trump administration has raised this idea in the past. Zelenskyy has agreed, but Putin has rejected it.
Ratcliffe made a secret visit to Moscow on Tuesday and met with his Russian counterparts: the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, and the director of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov.
Trump told Axios that Ratcliffe’s visit was “business as usual” and was not intended to warn Russia against attacking NATO territory.
U.S. officials told Zelenskyy that Ratcliffe raised the possibility of resuming peace talks with Moscow, according to the same sources.
The New York Times reported that Ratcliffe gave Bortnikov “a grim assessment” of the war’s situation and urged Russia to reach an agreement before its situation deteriorates further.
The sources told Axios that Ratcliffe concluded that Bortnikov is a constructive interlocutor, who could help restart diplomatic efforts.
The CIA declined to comment.
Ukrainian officials, however, are highly skeptical of Putin’s intentions and claim to have information indicating that Putin is planning a significant escalation of the war.
The deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, Pavlo Palisa, told reporters on Friday that Putin has ordered his military to prepare various operational scenarios for an attack on northern Ukraine, with Kyiv and Chernihiv identified as key targets.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the Trump administration, were suspended in mid-February following the outbreak of war with Iran.
White House envoys Steve Whitkov and Jared Kushner have held separate talks in recent months with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators.
However, little progress has been made.
The head of Zelenskyy’s office, Kirilo Budanov, told local media on Thursday that U.S.-mediated talks with Russia could resume in September.
On Friday, Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. for “the talks with Russia” and stated that the Trump administration “is promoting a realistic vision of what needs to be done and what needs to be achieved.”
Source: skai.gr
