UK backchannel contacts failed to develop, Kremlin says
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Nov. 12 that a contact between London and Moscow had taken place, but the dialogue failed to develop.
The comments follow reporting by the Financial Times (FT) that British national security advisor Jonathan Powell tried to open a backchannel with Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov earlier this year.
The outreach was designed to reaffirm the position of the U.K. and other European partners amid uncertainties over U.S. President Donald Trump's inconsistent approach to Ukraine, the FT reported.
Commenting on the phone call between Powell and Ushakov, Peskov said that the dialogue did not continue due to the U.K.'s alleged unwillingness to listen to Russia's position.
"Under conditions where mutual exchange of opinions was impossible, the dialogue did not develop," Peskov responded to a question by the state news agency TASS during a press briefing.
It remains unclear when exactly the phone call took place, as an undisclosed U.K. official told the Financial Times that Powell had not spoken to Ushakov in recent months.
The British government told the news outlet that it is not unusual for its officials to engage with Russian authorities.
Trump's months-long push to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war has been marked by frequent reversals, with the White House often shifting between positions favorable to Kyiv and Moscow.
This has prompted concerns among Ukraine and its European allies that they might be sidelined in the negotiations and that Trump might attempt to impose conditions favorable to the Kremlin.
Last month, Trump imposed sanctions against Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil for the first time, shortly after preparations for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin fell through.
The Budapest meeting was canceled shortly after a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reportedly due to Moscow's refusal to budge from its maximalist positions.
Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and pressed Ukraine to cede the entire territory of Donetsk Oblast and give up on its NATO aspirations, among other conditions.
