WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Joe Biden’s administration has failed to sanction secret meetings former top U.S. national security officials held with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Russians about potential talks to end the war in Ukraine, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
NBC News reported that the former US officials met with Lavrov in New York in April, joined by Richard Haass, a former US diplomat and outgoing chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and two former White House aides.
It was unclear how often the group, which included former Pentagon officials, had discussions with other Russian figures considered close to the Kremlin, NBC News reported. At least one unidentified member of the group has traveled to Russia, he added.
“The Biden administration has not sanctioned these discussions,” the State Department spokesman said in response to questions from Reuters. “And as we have said many times, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
The spokesman was referring to an administration policy of not discussing possible negotiations on ending the war without involving Ukrainian officials.
The administration, the spokesman said, would continue to supply arms to Kyiv so that Ukrainian officials “can negotiate from a position of strength when they think the time is right.”
NBC News, citing six people briefed on the talks, said they were meant to lay the groundwork for possible talks about ending the war that erupted with Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. .
He cites two sources as saying the talks took place with the knowledge of the administration but not at its direction and that those who met with Lavrov informed the White House afterwards.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis)