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Nuland: USA ready to play role in process of resolving conflict in Donbas, if both Ukraine, Russia want it
KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United States is ready to join the process of resolving the conflict in Donbas if Ukraine and Russia want it, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has said.
"We are now in the process of making it clear that if there is a proper role for us to play and both sides want it and it can be helpful, we are ready to do that, but we do not see an alternative to the actially beginning of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and not talking about it. It will require intense consistency, intense political will, intense public support among the parties," Nuland said at the Kyiv Security Forum on Wednesday.
At the same time, she said that Ukraine should not conduct negotiations "at gunpoint."
"So the first step, obviously, will be for Russia – to pull back its menacing troops, which are now building up around the borders of Ukraine, in order to create better conditions for talks," Nuland said.
The United States could play a supporting role, she said.
"You are right that the negotiations have stalled […] Does President Putin want to implement Minsk and withdraw from Donbas? We do not know, but we believe is worth testing again. We believe that the United States could play a supporting role, as we tried to do in 2015-2016, not replacing the Normandy format, but working in parallel with Normandy, working in Kiev to better understand you would see the future of Donbas, how you would like to reintegrate this population, how you would set up relations in the future, how to reconstruct this part of Ukraine, as well as working with Moscow to understand whether it is really ready to give Ukraine back these territories and leave this issue for Ukrainians to decide the future of Donbas," Nuland said.
