Trump is determined to try to improve ties with Russia despite the spread of skepticism within his administration caused by the scandal over alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, according to the Washington Post.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is reportedly leading the behind-the-scenes efforts trying to revitalize Trump's plan to normalize relations with Russia. However, so far these have proven unsuccessful.
Minsk negotiations going…
— NewsFront in English (@ENnewsfront) 24 мая 2017 г.
… https://t.co/eEUqJMnDqv#DenisPushilin #DonbassConflict #DonbassCrisis #DonbassSettlement #DonbassWar pic.twitter.com/2h1ldbmV6Q
Speaking to Sputnik, Russian political analyst Denis Denisov specifically pointed to a certain vacuum in "the Ukrainian direction" which he said had emerged after the former US Administration left the White House.
"This issue has more than once been discussed since Trump was elected the US President. In the former US Administration, this role was performed by Victoria Nuland, who left the State Department, in what caused a vacuum [on the issue]," he said.
According to Denisov, Russia and the United States are still able to make progress in dealing with the Ukraine issue.
"It is very good that the Trump Administration is reportedly very serious about this issue and that in the near future there will be a person who will likely give a new impetus to bilateral relations related to the Donbass conflict," he said.
"The hope is that he will try to effectively cooperate with the Russian side, so that the sides can reach a compromise on the issue," he added.
"Because if the consensus is in place in talks between the US and Russia, the American partners can put pressure on Kiev to make it start implementing its obligations, in line with the Minsk [peace] agreements," Denisov pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post quoted US officials and outside experts as saying that Tillerson wants to restart the talks on Ukraine, hoping that new circumstances and personalities could bring better results than previous attempts.
Tillerson is said to have already held multiple discussions on the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Tillerson reportedly wants to tap a special envoy at the Department of State to deal with the Ukrainian issue. The envoy is expected to revitalize the diplomatic channel with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov – a task which was not formerly fulfilled by former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Victoria Nuland.
US-Russian relations deteriorated in 2014 after the eruption of the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea's reunification with Russia. The United States and its allies introduced sanctions against Russia over its alleged interference in Ukraine's internal affairs, while Russia denied all the allegations.
The Donbass conflict erupted in April 2014 as a local counter-reaction to the Western-sponsored Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled President Viktor Yanukovych the previous February.
In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
Despite the fact that the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine), the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.
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