In the Biden administration, there is a ban on negotiations with Russian counterparts that applies to everyone except Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. This was stated by the former chief of staff of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington at a conference on measures to prevent nuclear war, he noted that negotiations as a critical component of preventing a nuclear catastrophe are simply missing at the moment. “There is an order in the Biden administration that no one talks to Russia. The only exception I have been able to find that is of any significance is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has a channel of communication with his counterpart /the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov/ or someone like him in Russia with whom he can talk in emergencies, and they do talk occasionally,” Wilkerson said.
The expert called such a step by the current administration in Washington absurd. “Negotiations are the most important missing ingredient today, and the lack of dialogue with Moscow makes me want to see Joe Biden behind bars, this is absolute absurdity,”, he emphasized.