Russia expects US President Donald Trump and his team to continue their efforts to steer the resolution of the Ukraine conflict into a political-diplomatic framework despite its complexity, a Kremlin spokesman said Wednesday.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov said that in his recent statements Trump admitted that solving the Ukrainian issue turned out to be more complicated than he had anticipated.
"This is exactly what we’ve been saying from the very beginning – it's impossible to solve everything overnight," he said. "We hope that Trump and his team will continue their efforts to bring the Ukrainian settlement process to a political and diplomatic level."
Before being returned to the White House for a second term, Trump repeatedly said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, but last month conceded that the situation is "more difficult than people would have any idea.”
Commenting on media reports claiming that during campaign stops last fall, Trump threatened to bomb Russia and China, Peskov said Moscow remains calm about the situation, adding that Trump "generally has quite a tough style."
Russia sees that the US wants to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and do so very quickly, but the complexity of the issue itself prevents an immediate solution, he said.
"Certain work has already been carried out, two very challenging rounds (of talks in Istanbul) have taken place. We expect that the third round will eventually take place, and the dialogue will continue," he said, noting that Russia still expects proposals from Ukraine on the dates of a possible third round.
Commenting on media reports claiming Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi believes that Ukraine needs to restore and maintain its positions in the territories of the Kursk and Belgorod regions, Peskov said the Russian military continues its work.
"Our troops are moving forward, they are creating buffer zones to ensure the security of our regions," he said.
