Russian expert points at lack of substantive agenda for Witkoff, Kushner’s visit

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. A visit to Russia by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner is being postponed due to a lack of substantive agenda, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Ivan Timofeyev told TASS in an interview.

He recalled Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks that President Vladimir Putin was ready to once again meet with Witkoff and Kushner, but "it’s a question of what they will bring."

"Any consultations and negotiations are based on a specific agenda and require at least a theoretical prospect of reaching a solution, some kind of an algorithm."

"Along with negotiations, any settlement process involves de-escalation measures. But this is quite the opposite of what we are seeing now, as Ukraine has intensified its strikes and Russia has responded," the expert continued. "Western media portrayed these strikes as some sort of a game changer, which is supposed to force Russia to make concessions. As you can see, this did not happen. I don’t think that this kind of escalation will contribute to any sort of settlement."

"The fact that Russian-US consultations and opinion exchanges are ongoing is a good thing, but, so far, I don’t see them yielding any practical results," Timofeyev added.

A source earlier told TASS that the visit to Russia by Witkoff and Kushner is being delayed, and "there are reasons to postpone it.".