Richard Haas, a former US diplomat and former President of the Council on Foreign Relations, has defended a meeting he held with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that was first reported by NBC News last week.
According to NBC, Hass and two other former US officials and members of the Council on Foreign Relations met with Lavrov in April when he was in New York for a UN Security Council meeting. The report said Lavrov and the former US officials discussed potential diplomatic off-ramps and the fate of Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the meeting took place on April 24 but disputed the idea that they were secret negotiations or that they discussed a potential Ukraine peace plan. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that the talks were part of regular discussions Russian officials have with political scientists and public figures when leading delegations to the UN.
She said it was the Council on Foreign Relations members who did not want the meeting to be made public. “They are justifiably concerned about the highly toxic atmosphere in the American media and the reaction of the US authorities,” she said.
Haas and other officials who attended the meeting did come under criticism from Russia hawks in the US for engaging with Lavrov, and the Biden administration distanced itself from the talks. In an article on his Substack, Haas said unofficial meetings are important as there is little engagement between the US and Russian governments.
“Such meetings can be valuable opportunities to keep channels of communication open at moments when official interactions are either nonexistent or unproductive and the stakes high. They permit participants to convey their views on a range of subjects while providing an opportunity to get a better idea of the thinking of those associated with other countries and governments,” Haas wrote.
Like Zakharova, Haas also did not characterize the meeting as negotiations. “Critically, such meetings are conversations, not negotiations. Those involved speak for themselves, not for any institution they might be affiliated with, and certainly not for the US government, although relevant government officials are kept informed about what is taking place,” he said.
As a nation we are in real trouble and so is the whole Globe. We have a cowardly president without character and backbone to stand up and do what is right for the nation. This nation needs peace as much as the Ukrainian and Russian people, but we have a president who does not even dare to use the word peace and even less so to meet and respect the opponents position and show good will to compromise.
And he is the man who makes a big to do about bipartisan ship in congress.
If he has something to say it turns to spam the moment it comes out of his mouth. I treat what he says like all the other spam in the mail, on the phone, and computer, delete or throw it in the waste basket.
Joe, open your mouth and say PEACE just one time as loud as you can.
I agree with all that. Especially the part where you criticize Putin, the other President who invaded instead of using the word peace.
Putin always offered the peace option, obviously you don’t keep up with the news.
Before the military actions Putin’s government send diplomatically the option to renegotiate the implementation of the signed Minsk agreements and Ukrainian Neutrality in return for secure Russian borders, no NATO troops and nuclear weapons and missiles on the Russian border. It would have cost the UKRAINIANS absolutely nothing, but Biden said no, ask Jeffrey Sachs, he contacted the Biden people in support of the reasonable Russian offer, BIDEN said NO. but OF COURSE, YOU DON’T KNOW BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. You are nothing but a government troll. This unnecessary war is brutal, so I am just frank, what is being done to the Ukrainian people is another NATO war crime. I am ashamed for my government. I have dual citizenship and I am ashamed for both of them. I can not support the war crimes against the Ukrainian people only because a demented president and his government say it is the right thing to do. they are people who do not know the definition of the word PEACE. I do have a conscience, I want to be clear about that.
Speaking of other Presidents who invaded, we have LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush the Stupid, Obama, Trump and last but not least, the Senile One.
Biden was preferred as President because he has dementia. He reads off a script by Victoria Nuland and other criminal war mongers. Nuland was not elected to any office but promotes war and hatred against Russia. A Jewish woman supporting Ukrainian Nazis against Russian Orthodox Christians.
I think her family is Ukrainian, and she is an appendix of the Kagan clan and yes, a hateful and very evil woman. So many women in leadership positions regardless of party are real vampires.
“They are justifiably concerned about the highly toxic atmosphere in the American media and the reaction of the US authorities,” Maria Zakharova said. If Maria Zakharova was from the US government, the MSM would be praising her for being such an articulate and strong woman. Except, she is also Russian and speaks uncritically about Russia, so they won’t. She becomes an authoritarian female Russian version of Hitler. But, if she wanted to outsmart them, she could wear rainbow colors and turn trans… AIR? (Sarcasm with bad taste)
Russia confirmed Lavrov met with former US officials but denied the talks were secret or that a Ukrainian peace plan was discussed
yes, that was part of “Operation Blah Blah Blah” which include discussions on where to build the new Berlin Wall which is part of the neocon grand-plan “Project for the New American Century”