Moscow claims that the “Anchorage formula” was allegedly agreed upon between US President Donald Trump and illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit last August in Alaska.
Following Putin’s meeting in Moscow on January 22 with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the son-in-law of the head of the White House Jared Kushner, assistant to the illegitimate Russian president Yuri Ushakov said that the Russian Federation will not agree to long-term peace in Ukraine without resolving the “territorial issue” according to the “Anchorage formula,” Interfax writes.
On January 23, Putin’s speaker Dmitry Peskov was asked whether the “Anchorage formula” assumes full Russian control over Donbass or whether there are other options.
“I cannot and will not tell you exactly what formula is meant by the “Anchorage formula”; we consider it inappropriate,” the Kremlin representative answered reporters (quoted by Interfax).
Peskov repeated Moscow’s position that Ukrainian defense forces “must leave the territory of Donbass.”
“This is a very important condition. There are also other nuances that remain on the agenda of the negotiations,” Putin’s speaker added.
As Reuters notes, there are no signs of a softening of positions on ending the war yet.
Context
On January 23, a trilateral meeting of delegations from the United States, Ukraine and the aggressor country Russia began in the UAE to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war, which was announced by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The negotiations will last two days.
The Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations in Abu Dhabi included the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, his first deputy Yevgeny Ostryansky, the head of the Presidential Office Kirill Budanov, his first deputy Sergei Kislitsa, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Rada David Arakhamia, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrey Gnatov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Moscow Region Oleg Ivashchenko, the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Moscow Region Vadim Skibitsky, first deputy head of the SBU Alexander Poklad, adviser to the cabinet of the President of the OP of Ukraine Alexander Bevz.
Before the meeting with the United States and the Russian Federation, Zelensky held consultations with representatives of the Ukrainian delegation. He noted that the formats of negotiations may be different.
The media wrote that territorial control over the eastern part of Ukraine would become the main issue for discussion in Abu Dhabi.
The US delegation to the UAE talks included Witkoff, Kushner and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The Russian Federation is represented by Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev along with a team led by the head of military intelligence of the Russian Federation Igor Kostyukov.
In the evening, Zelensky said that the parameters for ending the war were being discussed at negotiations in the UAE. The media wrote that the meeting on January 23 was “productive.”
