Special envoy Keith Kellogg asserted that the Trump-Putin summit was a historic step forward, asking critics to “shut up”.
“We are living in a historic moment. To the critics, I just say, ‘Come on, shut up and sit in the corner’,” Keith Kellogg, special envoy for President Donald Trump, said on August 20, referring to the summit between the US leader and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week.
Special envoy Kellogg asserted that President Trump has done more to resolve the conflict in Ukraine than his predecessor Joe Biden, saying that the former US president “never even spoke to Mr. Putin”.
Mr. Kellogg criticized the previous administration for flatly rejecting the possibility of dialogue with Russia and declaring military support for Ukraine until necessary. “President Trump is relying on his direct negotiating style and pushing for a diplomatic solution,” the US envoy said.
US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg in Brussels, Belgium, June 12.
President Trump and his counterpart Putin, held a face-to-face meeting for more than three hours in Alaska on August 15. The two leaders then held a quick press conference to announce the results of the discussion and left open the possibility of holding another summit in the near future.
Both leaders declared the talks good, but the summit ended without any major breakthroughs announced.
Mr. Trump then welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders to the White House to discuss ending the conflict. The US president also called Mr. Putin for 40 minutes to inform him of the discussions, and the two sides agreed to continue the dialogue.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on August 20 that Moscow was ready to increase its delegation to participate in peace negotiations with Kiev, an idea that President Putin raised after a call with his counterpart, Trump.