The outgoing Biden administration will try everything to make negotiations on Ukraine impossible, Russian Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko said, albeit adding that it was unlikely to come to that.
"Of course, the serious escalation undertaken by the outgoing administration is very likely to have an impact on potential negotiations. That is precisely why it is being carried out now in such a forced, hasty way. They are very much expecting that as a result of their provocative actions either the situation will go completely out of control and negotiations will become impossible - but I do not believe this, I think it will not come to that - or the parties will have to start negotiations not even from zero, but from negative values," Matvienko said in an interview to Russian newspaper Agrumenty i Fakty out on Monday.
The main goal of the current actions of the Biden administration is to complicate the situation and delay the negotiations, and "the other side leaders" of the potential talks "will have to show certain strong qualities," Matvienko said.
At the same time, the speaker believes that if US President-elect Donald Trump's team manages to enter negotiations in the near future, "it will not mean anything yet," as the "deep state" will make every effort to hinder the process.
A presidential election took place in the United States on November 5. Republican candidate Trump, who served as the US president from 2017-2021, was declared the winner by all leading race callers and networks. The Electoral College will vote in accordance with the will of the voters on December 17, and the new Congress will approve the results of the vote on January 6. The presidential inauguration will take place on January 20.
During his election campaign, Trump pledged that he could achieve a resolution to the Ukraine conflict through negotiations, repeatedly claiming he could resolve it in just one day. Russian officials believe the issue is far too complex for such a simple solution.