MOSCOW
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia and the United States are continuing to work to implement agreements reached by the two countries’ presidents at a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, last year.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov emphasized Russia’s commitment to advancing the settlement process in Ukraine. “Work is continuing,” he said.
Peskov highlighted what the Kremlin calls the “spirit of Anchorage” — a set of mutual understandings reached at the meeting that Moscow says could lead to a breakthrough in resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
“These understandings reached in Anchorage are fundamental, and they are capable of moving the settlement process forward and enabling a breakthrough,” he said.
The Kremlin official also stressed that discussions are best conducted behind closed doors, without public pressure. Moscow is still waiting for a response to President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to use frozen Russian assets in the US to pay for a membership in the US-promoted Board of Peace, Peskov added.
In contrast, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed frustration with the US, claiming it is no longer ready to implement the proposal it made in Anchorage and outlining conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine.
“Besides the fact that they supposedly proposed something regarding Ukraine and we were ready, and now they are not ready, we also do not see any ‘bright’ future in the economic sphere,” Lavrov said on Monday.
Kremlin spokesperson also criticized US sanctions against Cuba, calling them “strangulation tactics,” and said Russia is in dialogue with Havana to find ways to provide assistance. He noted that the fuel situation in Havana worsened after the US military operation in Venezuela on Jan. 3 to capture its president, Nicolas Maduro, one of Cuba’s main oil suppliers.
On Jan. 29, an executive order in the US authorized duties on goods from states supplying oil to Cuba and formally declared a state of emergency, citing a threat from the island nation.
