MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Another round of negotiations on Ukraine begins in Geneva with a new group of participants; Israel wants Iran to take an impossible deal; and the Epstein case may lead to a Republican fiasco in the upcoming US elections. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
On February 17, another round of negotiations on Ukraine will begin in Geneva with a new group of participants. Russia's delegation will be led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and will include Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin. The Kremlin attributes this to the broadening of the agenda. One of the topics may be an energy ceasefire. Meanwhile, Europeans remain on the periphery of the settlement: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipped the meeting on Ukraine in Munich, holding talks in Slovakia and Hungary instead.
According to Grigory Karasin, the head of the Russian Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, it is important for the Ukrainian delegation to demonstrate its willingness to negotiate in Geneva since Kiev's efforts thus far have aimed to disrupt the settlement process. "The official delegations of Russia, Ukraine, and the US need to work out some kind of road map for moving forward in the 'spirit of Anchorage.' We talk about this constantly because, if the Ukrainians want to negotiate, they will do so. But if they don't, they will undermine everything, cut details, and distort the facts," he told Izvestia.
