Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Russia remains committed to the agreements reached between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the Alaska summit last August and is not inclined to make any other interim decisions or give in to ultimatums, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Russian officials regularly refer to the so-called “spirit of Anchorage“ – a phrase that analysts say serves as shorthand for what Moscow has perceived as a possible deal: Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the remaining parts of Donbas that are not under Russian control, in exchange for Russia to freeze the front lines in the remaining areas.
Kiev has repeatedly made it clear that it will not hand over any part of its territory to Russia without resistance.
„In August last year, the leaders of Russia and the United States reached a number of agreements on political ways out of the Ukrainian crisis. We remain faithful to these agreements,” Lavrov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month at a meeting with the heads of leading world news agencies that his US counterpart Donald Trump had asked Moscow to make some compromises on Ukraine, adding that Russia was ready to do so if Kiev did the same.
Putin pointed out at the meeting, which took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg, that Russia had all the necessary resources to achieve its military goals and that its forces were continuing to advance in Ukraine. However, “we are undoubtedly ready and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine peacefully, on the basis that we discussed during our meeting with President Trump in Anchorage,” Putin said.