MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Moscow maintains its steady stance on Ukraine despite US pressure and a planned visit by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff; growing European support for recognizing Palestinian statehood is straining relations with Washington; and OPEC+ will raise oil output in September, including higher Russian quotas. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
The contacts with Steve Witkoff will reveal the true position of the United States, in contrast to the loud statements coming from the White House, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin told Izvestia. President Donald Trump had announced the visit of his special envoy in the run-up to the expiration of the "resolution deadline" for the Ukrainian conflict and the introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions. Nevertheless, Moscow’s stance remains firm. As Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized during his meeting with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, Russia’s primary objective is to eliminate the root causes of the crisis and ensure its own security, while the conditions laid out as early as June 2024 remain in force.
"In foreign policy, and particularly in diplomacy, it is always better to be less emotional and more measured. So, all the emotions now dominating the media space, with all these statements and references to big names, Trump, should be taken calmly," Karasin told Izvestia.
