Volker: Russia controls everything that happens in the Donbas
During a press briefing in Washington, US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that the Russian Federation controls 100% of what is happening in the Donbas.
In answering a question about the lack of dialogue between Kyiv and the pseudo-republics of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Volker disagreed with the assumption made by Russian journalists that the situation in the Donbas constitutes an "internal strife".
"It's not an internal strife. It's not an ethnic conflict; it's not an indigenous conflict. It is one where on the eastern side you have 100% Russian command and control what's happening there," Volker said.
At the same time, he said, "there are obviously people hired to work in the military operation [and] to work in the civilian administration of the so-called LPR and DPR” in the east of Ukraine. "But this is Russian-directed, and so the relevant interlocutor here is Russia," stressed Volker.
"As I said, the decision-maker here is Russia and I think that's where I need to be dedicating the U.S. effort, is to engaging directly with Russia," the US Special Representative stated.
US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker will meet with Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov on November 13 in Belgrade.