SHAFAQNA- A group have held secret talks with prominent Russians with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In a high-level example of the back-channel diplomacy taking place behind the scenes, senior USA’s national security officials and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, four former officials and two current officials told NBC News.
On the agenda of the April meeting were some of the thorniest issues in the war in Ukraine, like the fate of Russian-held territory that Ukraine may never be able to liberate, and the search for an elusive diplomatic off-ramp that could be tolerable to both sides.
Source: nbcnews