Russia says US needs to formulate its stance on how to end the Ukraine conflict

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the United States needed to formulate its policy on ending the conflict in Ukraine and that Moscow could then base its own position on specific U.S. action.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have not spoken by phone since Trump’s inauguration, according to public statements from officials on both sides.

Russia’s RIA state news agency earlier on Thursday quoted a senior lawmaker as saying that preparations for a meeting between Putin and Trump were at an “advanced stage” however.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said separately that Moscow had heard many words and statements from Washington on Ukraine, but that for now there was no clarity on what exactly the U.S. envisaged when it came to trying to strike a deal to end the conflict there.

“As for the role or possible role of the United States in resolving the crisis around Ukraine, once again: everything will depend on concrete actions and on the plans of the new administration embodied in those actions,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow.

“For now, there are many words and many statements. (But) there is no clarity on the steps being taken (by the U.S.), so it would be premature to talk about the prospects for negotiations or anything at all in this context.

“As for Washington, they should probably formulate their policy and we will proceed ourselves based on their concrete steps and actions,” she said.

Trump and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, have both said they are working on a plan to broker a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine but have yet to disclose full details of what that plan might look like.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Maxim Rodionov/Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrew Osborn)