Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the United States has canceled the next round of talks aimed at “eliminating irritants” in bilateral relations. However, Moscow still hopes the negotiations will resume, according to a statement published on the ministry’s website on June 16.
“As of today, the next round of bilateral consultations aimed at resolving ‘irritants’ and normalizing the work of both countries’ diplomatic missions has been canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators. We hope the pause they have taken will not drag on for too long,” Zakharova said. It remains unclear when and where the canceled meeting was supposed to take place.
A few days earlier, Russia’s Ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchev, said that Moscow and Washington had agreed to move the talks on “irritants” from Istanbul to their respective capitals, announcing that a meeting would be held in Moscow “in the near future.”
On June 16, it was reported that US President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the upcoming G7 summit in Canada.
Earlier, on June 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia is engaging in talks with Ukraine solely to avoid new, tougher sanctions.
