Biden's administration not involved in secret negotiations with Russians

The US Department of State and the White House have stated that President Joe Biden’s administration did not authorise informal talks with the Russians regarding Ukraine.

Source: Reuters, citing a spokesperson from the State Department; John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator of the White House National Security Council, in an interview with CBS News

Quote from the State Department spokesperson: "The Biden administration did not sanction those discussions. And as we've said repeatedly, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."

Details: As Reuters noted, the State Department spokesperson was referring to the Biden’s administration’s policy not to discuss possible talks about war ending without Ukrainian officials involved.

He said the administration would continue sending weapons to Kyiv so that Ukrainian officials "can negotiate from a position of strength when they think the time is right".

Kirby noted that the White House was aware of the informal talks.

Quote from Kirby: "But I want to make it clear that these discussions were not encouraged or engendered by us and we were not supporting them in any active way." 

Background: The media discovered that a group of former top national security US officials has held secret negotiations with well-known Russians who are close to the Kremlin, including Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in order to lay foundations for future negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine. 

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