WASHINGTON, June 3. /TASS/. Washington exiting the process of settling the Ukraine conflict will be a mistake because prolonging the conflict carries substantial risks for the US, Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Anatol Lieven wrote on the institute’s information portal.
"The Trump administration can be forgiven its exasperation with the state of the peace process. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake — from the point of view of America’s own interests — for the US to walk away from it," Lieven wrote pointing out that "sooner or later Washington would inevitably be dragged back in." The expert believes that without "a strong US intervention," "there will be no peace settlement in Ukraine."
According to the expert, only Washington can offer Russia concessions on a number of issues, for example, on US troop deployments in Europe, in an attempt to reduce the terms put forth by Moscow, as well as pressure the Kiev regime and its European allies into accepting these conditions, because many of them "are not only legitimate, but essential," including for the post-conflict Ukraine "to progress towards eventual EU membership."
The expert noted that the US will not benefit from any further escalation of the conflict. For instance, in his opinion, the Ukrainian attack on Russian airfields "undermines nuclear security between the US and Russia," while the proposal by US senators to introduce 500% tariffs on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other goods will destroy crucial relations between Washington and Asian countries, for example, India.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump did not rule out Washington leaving the negotiation process on Ukraine.
The second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine resumed in Istanbul on June 2. The meeting lasted a little over an hour, during which the delegations communicated in Russian. The two sides exchanged memorandums on their visions for settling the conflict. Vladimir Medinsky, the presidential aide heading the Russian delegation, said that Russia had given the Ukrainian side a memorandum consisting of two parts. Additionally, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he would like to organize a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky on Turkish soil and did not rule out Trump’s participation.